Tasty Twenty-One
by DayDreaminDeb
Summary: Another resubmission from before. Ranger and this Merry Men have someone trying to kill them and their friends. Can Stephanie help? Will Ranger and Stephanie find their way back to each other? Rated M for language and sexual content.
1. Chapter 1

My name is Stephanie Plum Manoso. I'm thirty years old. I'm married, for the moment, and I'm not working anywhere. I don't have to work. I actually sent a letter of resignation to Tank who along with my soon to be former husband owns the company that I worked for. I included with the letter my keys; any and all clothing that had Rangeman on it that I still had after the explosion and the new credit card that Ranger had given me. I declined the opportunity to continue working with my cousin Vinnie's bail bonds office. I pretty much declined every employment opportunity that I was offered. I didn't need to work so I wasn't going to…at least not for a while.

I am currently living in the house that my first husband and I moved into just after we got married. If you're not up on my life events you're probably wondering why. After all, my last name isn't Orr. That marriage was annulled. It's not even Plum. It's Manoso. That would be Mrs. Ricardo Carlos Manoso. But I won't be that for long. I am talking to an attorney later on today.

I'm going after an annulment. I was drunk and didn't know it was real. He better sign the paperwork that will be served on him to that effect too. If that doesn't work, I'll file for the annulment using the reasons that Renee Zellwegger divorced Kenny Chesney, fraud. I thought he'd sign the papers. I was pretty sure that at this point he wanted to forget this ever happened. I don't know otherwise. He hasn't called me.

I'd dwelt on my unhappiness for exactly six days before making the call for that appointment. I had spoken to a lot of people in that time, but none of them were my estranged husband. My parents had come by to console me and I suspect to try to see where my head was. All I said was that he deceived me.

He did more than deceive me. He broke me.

It's funny how that works. All the Ramirez insanity and Slayer horror couldn't break me, but he could. I suppose it's because I never believed in Ramirez or the Slayers. But I had believed in Ranger. I believed in him. I believed he'd do the right thing. I believed that he loved me. I was wrong.

Brian Goodman was a boyfriend of mine between my ex-fiancé Joe Morelli (currently married to the former Terri Gilman) and Ranger…er Mr. Manoso. He had been in town for my wedding reception with Ranger and hung out to see me over the hump. I think it was more than any woman could expect from any man who professed to be in love with them. I know I appreciated it. He stayed for five days. He was smart enough to know that I wasn't ready for another relationship and he respected me too much to take advantage of the situation. He told me he loved me and then he left the country and headed back to Australia on his journey of self discovery.

I don't blame him. It really wasn't a bad idea. I didn't think I'd go to Australia. I was pretty sure that Brian could distract me from my own journey of self discovery if I went there. If nothing else, I'm sure I'd sleep with him. He had good hands and a better mouth if my memory served. If I was going to get my shit together being with Brian was probably not the way to go. It would probably only complicate things more.

I was also pretty sure I'd stay away from any Spanish speaking countries. Yea…some things are just better left alone.

I was back in therapy with Dr. Addison. I didn't talk as much as I had once done. It sort of felt as though there wasn't much point. What was I supposed to say? Ranger didn't know what to say to me and I didn't know what to say to Dr. Addison. He couldn't fix this. Only Ranger could really fix it and it didn't appear that he was interested in doing that. I wasn't sure anymore that I needed it fixed. Now I was thinking that I lived and I learned and it was time to move on.

This time when I moved on I would do it literally. I would move. I don't mean to a house other than the one Dickie and I moved in to before I caught him on the table with that pathetic ho Joyce Barnhardt, no I mean far, far away. My parents were going to move to Florida. Grandma Mazur was still looking just the right nudist colony for her and Burt probably in a foreign country across the pond. There was no reason to stay except for my friends and my sister and her family. Somehow, as much as I loved them, that wasn't enough to induce me to stay.

So now I was going to visit my lawyer and see about the annulment. I'd already signed the necessary papers to proceed with the annulment on the grounds that I didn't know what I was doing. There has plenty of talk in my life that I don't know what I'm doing. I'm sure that I could come up with dozens of people who were willing to give evidence to support that. But as far as the marriage went, I was drunk and I didn't believe we were really getting married and that was enough for an annulment.

Today I was taking my lawyer all the evidence to support the fact that Ranger tricked me into marrying him regarding his duplicity. Of course I didn't have anything from other people supporting the fact, but I had a list of names who would give evidence whether they wanted to or not. The fact was that almost everyone in the city of Trenton and a whole heck of a lot of people in Cayman knew he'd tricked me. There were plenty of people who would testify. I was sure of that.

Anyway, if the first reason didn't work, I was pretty sure the second would. He didn't want me to divorce him. If I divorced him, I'd take his stuff. I didn't even want his stuff. But if he crosses me, I'll do what I have to in order to get my life back and if it hurts him in the process…oh well. He shouldn't have been such a friggin ass.

I studied my reflection in the mirror. I was pale. There was nothing new about that. There were bags under my eyes. I suppose that there were more visible changes in my appearance, not including the thinness of my frame. But I couldn't see them. Yea, my jeans fit a little more loosely, but that's just something that happens. Some women are stress eaters. I'm more of the stress non eater type.

I went downstairs to get another cup of coffee and was diverted by the peal of the doorbell. I veered left instead of right and opened the door to see the last people in the world I either wanted or needed to see…Ranger's parents. You see in spite of the fact that I know all the way down into my soul that this isn't my fault; I'm still feeling guilty for not making it work. I suppose it's the Catholic guilt. Whatever kind of guilt it is, it sucks.

I swallowed.

"May we come in," Louisa asked after a moment's hesitation.

I stepped aside and let them into the house. I didn't trust my voice. I didn't know if I could talk and if I could, I wasn't sure what words would come out of my mouth. I have verbal diarrhea at the best of times and this wasn't one of those. We all know that my ability to control my tongue is pretty much limited to food. Okay, God only knows what will come out of my mouth on any occasion. I grudgingly concede defeat on this one.

The Manoso's sat on the sofa and sighed. I dropped in my chair and sighed as well. They studied me for a few moments before anyone said anything.

"You're not eating or sleeping," Papa said softly.

Did I still have the right to call him Papa? I wasn't sure. "No sir," I replied over the lump in my throat. I was surprised that I could speak at all to be completely honest. It hurt more than I imagined that it would just to look at them.

He sighed, "This thing that Ricardo has done to you, it is very wrong."

I nodded.

"He tricked you into marriage," Louisa's hands twisted in her lap. "I admit I don't understand this Estefania. Why would he do such a thing? It's so easy to see that you love him? Why wouldn't he just ask?"

I blinked at them. "Did…did he tell you that he tricked me?"

She nodded forlornly.

I swallowed, "well, he was honest with you."

She blinked and tears rolled down her cheeks. "That is more than he was with you."

"I could forgive that," I sighed and immediately wished I'd kept that thought to myself.

She frowned and Papa rushed on, "you can forgive him that? Then why haven't you done so?"

How did I answer that? Did I tell the truth or just skate around it? Did I tell them that he needed to ask me for forgiveness for lying to me? Well, he'd sort of done that. He'd admitted that he had done it. No, he hadn't said he was sorry. He just said 'Babe'. I shuddered and shook my head, "you know I love him?" The die was cast. I would tell the truth.

"Yes," he nodded.

"I told him that too," I said seriously.

"Of course you did. When one is in love with someone, they express their heart."

"That's right, they do…if they love you," I said sadly.

"If Ranger expressed his heart to you," Mama began and stopped at the look on my face. "Oh, my heavens, what has he done?"

"He has not told you that he loves you," Papa asked in amazement.

I shook my head.

He sat back stunned into silence.

I don't know why I felt the need to rush to fill the silence. I'd told them what they needed to know. There was no point in going into detail. But my mouth opened and the words just seemed to spill out. "I told him that he was afraid of the words. He said he wasn't. I reiterated that he was. He denied it…vehemently."

"He denied it," Papa frowned.

"He denied that he was afraid of them, but he didn't say them. He didn't say them to me. He's never said the words to me. Well, he's never said them without qualifying it in some way. He loves me in his own way or he loves me in a way that doesn't come with a ring or…" I broke off and blushed brightly. "You get my drift. He has never just said to me…I love you."

"Never," Mama blinked and her eyes filled with tears.

"Never," I assured her.

"What about during the wedding?"

"Does that count?"

"I don't understand," Papa frowned.

"I didn't either," I sighed. "I guess he loves the idea of me, but not me."

"I don't believe that," Mama frowned.

"I came to the only conclusion that I can come to, based on what he said and didn't say," I said quietly.

He sighed, "Yes, you did. He is a man. If he cannot tell you what he feels, he doesn't deserve you."

"I don't think he feels them for me," I whispered. "He says that he's capable of saying the words and he won't say them to me. He can't love me."

Mama shook her head, "no…that's not right. He loves you. I know this."

"Has he ever told you that he loves me," I said the words softly.

She shook her head.

"Well then, that's your answer," I said quietly. "I can forgive him anything if he loves me, but since he doesn't…"

Papa nodded and got to his feet. "I understand darling girl."

"What are you going to do," Mama asked.

"Get the marriage annulled," I said quietly. "I don't think he's given me a choice."

"I think you're right," Papa nodded.

Mama got to her feet and I stood as well. She wrapped her arms around me tightly and a small sob escaped her lips. I hugged her back. "I feel that you're the one for him," she whispered. "I just don't understand this."

"Me either," I whispered over my tears. "But I can't deal with the fact that he doesn't love me. I just can't."

She nodded. "Take care little Estefania. I hope you find someone who is not afraid of the words."

Papa hugged me to him, "and if you ever need anything…anything at all, you call me. I'll get it for you."

I hugged him back. I would have loved for them to be my family.

"And Mama is right; you deserve someone who can say the words. You'll find him."

I smiled in agreement, but I wasn't sure that would happen anyway. I had learned the hard way that love needed to go both ways to work. I wasn't going to settle for less. And I thought my only chance was over.

I walked them to the door accepting more tearful hugs and then got my cup of coffee and grabbed my briefcase and my purse and headed out the door. The lawyer awaited me.


	2. Chapter 2

I arrived at my attorney's office a few minutes early and checked in with his secretary and took a seat in the outer office. I looked down at my buzzing cell phone and saw that I had a message from Ranger. When I opened it the only thing there was ' **WTF**?' I guess his parents were there with him. I admit it, I felt a little smug. It wasn't enough payback for all that I felt he'd done to me, but it sure as hell had to have caused him a headache or two with more to come.

The attorney beckoned me into his office, "Mrs. Manoso, how are you?"

"I'm fine," I opened my briefcase and gave him the envelope. "All the material is there. I believe it's enough to file with. The names of the people willing and able to give evidence are included."

"It's more than enough," he said going through the notes. "Are you sure that you want to do this?"

I nodded. "I don't really have a choice. I mean if he won't accept the other way."

"I've sent it out already. He'll probably be served some time in the next few days. Have you talked to your priest?"

"Yes," I nodded. "If the court annuls the marriage, the Vatican will annul it automatically. Not that it matters really. According to the Priest because we didn't have a Catholic wedding it won't be recognized by the church anyway."

He nodded. "I'll let you know if I need anything else. Assuming he signs the papers we'll go forward quietly. If he doesn't…"

"Then we'll change the grounds to fraud as we discussed," I said grimly. "He really doesn't want to get into a pissing match with me now. I'm the injured party here."

He nodded.

I frowned, "do you think he's already been served?"

"It's possible," he nodded. "Why do you ask?"

"Just a text message," I smiled. "It's nothing."

"Save it," he said briefly, "we may use it in court."

I nodded. "Is that it then?"

"That's it," he agreed.

I got to my feet and left the office. I went straight for the elevator and found Mitch leaning against the wall waiting. "Are you following me?"

"Yep," he nodded.

"Did Ranger ask or order you to," I asked as I glanced down at my cell phone again. It was a second message. 'Call me!' I shook my head with a humorless smile and put the phone back in my purse.

"Yes," he nodded.

"Terrific," I rolled my eyes. He hasn't talked to me since the reception night and now he's having people follow me and he's texting me.

"He just wants to know that you're safe Stephanie."

"Right now I don't need protection from anyone or anything but him," I said seriously and stepped on the elevator. "I'm not in any kind of physical danger. I'm only in mental and emotional danger. He's the culprit. I don't need or want his particular brand of help."

He followed me onto the elevator car, "what are you doing here?"

"I'm seeing my attorney," I said jabbing the ground floor button.

He leaned against the wall, "so you're filing for divorce?"

"An annulment," I corrected him. "I'm going to pretend this never happened."

"Can you actually do that?"

"I can sure as hell try," I said grimly.

"Stephanie…you love him," he reminded me.

"An emotion that he doesn't return," I said breezily.

"He does love you," he said in exasperation.

"Does he? I don't think that buying me things or giving me part of his company means he loves me...and neither does the sex so don't even bring it up."

"How much of the company was he going to give you?"

"Twenty percent," I shrugged.

"So he works his whole life to buy this thing and he just offers you twenty percent and you don't think he loves you?"

"He should say the words."

"Yes, he should," he agreed.

"In any case Tank and Mr. Manoso will be so glad I never signed those papers taking twenty percent of their company. If I had he'd really be in trouble."

"Would you make his life miserable," his lips curved with a smirk.

"No," I shook my head with a sigh.

"Then what would you do," he asked with a slight smile.

"In theory I'd go into the office everyday looking sexy and happy and shove all that in his face," I said gleefully.

"And what would you do in truth?"

"In truth," I sighed, "I'd sign it back over to them."

He smiled, "You see I already knew that." He stepped aside to let some women onto the elevator on the ninth floor and ended up right beside me.

"Did you," I shook my head.

"I did. I know who you are Stephanie. I mean I really see you for who you are. So…I believe what you're saying."

"Thank you."

"I want to stay friends."

"Mitch," I started.

He put his hand up to stop me. "I know you probably will have a hard time being around most of your friends because they're all…we're all pretty much associated with Ranger in some way or the other, but I don't want you out of my life."

"I don't want to lose you either."

"So…come to dinner with Carrie and me tonight. We're going to visit an old friend at his restaurant."

I shifted on my feet willing the elevator to move faster, "I don't know Mitch. This is the first time I've been out since…"

"I know that," he said with a smile. "Remember, I've been watching you."

"Who's had night duty?"

"Lester," he said. "Marina's out of town on assignment. He volunteered."

I shook my head.

"Please," he said quietly.

I sighed. That damn word always worked on me. "All right, I'll meet you there. Where and what time," I stepped off the elevator.

"At seven-thirty on Williamson Avenue and the restaurant is called Unit."

I shook my head, "that's a weird name."

"He's a weird guy," he waved at me and headed for the black SUV at the curb.

"Most men are," I muttered as I walked toward my car.

I had to hurry halfway across town to meet Natalie and maybe Cal for lunch. Cal wasn't sure he could get away. Natalie was the only one of my friends who called and checked on me everyday after the reception. Even Mary Lou had only called three times, of course she had kids to look after and they're often uncooperative. Natalie called every single day.

Lula wasn't ready to talk to me yet. I don't know if she thought she had to choose sides and be in support of her husband or not, but once we'd had our initial truthful conversation she hadn't called me back. I have to admit that it hurt my feelings a little bit. I knew her before she knew Ranger or Tank. But I was glad that she was staying loyal to her husband. It was a mess.

Of course, I saw Lula's face and more everywhere. Her image was on buses and billboards all over Trenton. The latest batches had her in pink spandex with matching pink highlights on her black hair. She looked good and provocative. The photos all showed her expansive cleavage. Tank was right, the girl had plenty to spare.

I arrived a few minutes late and had trouble finding a place to park. I almost ran down the sidewalk to the restaurant and waved at Mitch as he scoured the street for a spot.

Natalie got up and hugged me the moment I arrived at the table.

"I'm sorry I'm late. I ran into Mitch outside my attorney's office."

"Your attorney," she blinked as we sat. "You mean the real estate guy?"

"No," I shook my head. "I mean the divorce attorney that's going to get me my annulment."

She sat there looking at me with the saddest expression on her face. I knew she hoped we would work it out. Hell, I had hoped we would work it out. I guess this time I was just more realistic than everyone else about the chances of that happening. But then, they didn't have the benefit of an eye opening conversation with my husband and I had.

"Cheer up Natalie…your marriage is in great condition. Mine is the one that's over. I accept that there are things I can't change about either me or Ranger. I can't love him any less and he can't love me any more. That's just the way it goes."

"So you're filing?"

"It's filed," I said picking up the menu. "He'll be served any time now. Hell, he may have already been served."

"I didn't expect it to happen so fast," she sighed.

"Natalie," I reached for her hand, "it's got to be this way. I can't go on hoping for a happy ending with him. It's not healthy. I have to cut bait and run."

"Run where," she blinked and tears slid down her cheeks.

"I don't know where. I know I'm not going to Australia. Brian's there and he says he's still in love with me. I don't need that complication."

"I like Brian," she shrugged apologetically.

"I do too," I smiled.

"Then where will you go?"

"I don't know. I just know that I'm not going anywhere that Spanish is the primary language."

She gave a small strangled laugh.

"I'm just watching out for me.

"I know and that's what you should do," she sighed. "This just sucks."

"Yea, it does. Not everyone can have a happy ever after honey. You and Cal do, that's what matters."

"Not quite. It's not the only thing that matters," she paused and studied me thoughtfully. "So have you just been sitting around the house thinking of ways to get out of your marriage?"

"Not exactly," I admitted with an uncomfortable giggle. "Besides I already knew how to get out of the marriage. I just didn't know that I had more than a couple of options. Mr. Manoso graciously provided me with a really good one."

"Yea...," she frowned. "You're calling him Mr. Manoso?"

"I don't want to be too familiar with him," I shrugged and my gaze became cool for the first time. Yea…he pissed me off.

"So what did you do if you knew how to get free?"

"I was angry for a while. Then I tried bargaining with God if he'd fix it. Then I begged. Then I became a little bit despondent."

"Just a little despondent," she winced.

"Just a little bit," I admitted. "I mean, really I've been dealing with him not loving me for a really long time. It's just that when he started making excuses for not divorcing me, I convinced myself that I was wrong."

"You could be wrong," she said pleadingly.

"Could be," I shook my head with a smile. "Am I going to spend the rest of my life waiting around for what could be? Then I don't get any babies. What do I get instead? Fish," I shook my head again. "I don't think so."

She sighed. "So…after you were sad?

"I put a stick up my ass, put my big girl panties on and got on with life."

"Not a real stick," she teased.

"No…I'm not my parents," I shook my head.

"What about the granny panties?"

"Honey…nobody in my family wears granny panties, not even my granny," I shuddered.

She laughed. "Yea, well…I just sent her some new ones so she should be okay for a while."

"You know that you're the best friend ever, right?"

"I do," she agreed. "So you've gone through the stages of grief and now you're…"

"Getting an annulment and seeing you and… Oh, I'm having diner with Carrie and Mitch tonight at some restaurant on Williamson."

"You're going to Unit," she said and I could see the gleam in her eye.

"Yea," I frowned at her, "how did you know? Have you been there?"

"Yea," she nodded. "Mike's a great cook. But the restaurant needs something. Maybe you'll be able to figure it out."

"I'll leave out ferns," I said pushing one out of my hair. "And I'll recommend to Mike that he get rid of any that he has."

She giggled, "I'm certain he'll take that under advisement."

"Why are you so certain of that?"

"Mike will get one look at you and he'll do whatever you tell him to do."

I laughed.

"Of course, if you lose any more weight your boobs will disappear and then what?"

I grinned, "Augmentation?"

"Funny girl," she shook her head. She looked toward the door and waved.

Cal loped over to us and leaned down to kiss his wife and then me before sliding into the booth beside her. "So…how's it going? What did I miss?"

"She filed for an annulment."

Cal blinked at me, "oh dude…"

"What," I spread my arms hands up as if to say 'what do you want me to do'.

"Rangeman is going to be pissed."

"I can't see why," I rolled my eyes and frowned.

"Because he thinks you're going through some kind of phase."

"Oh for God's sake," I shook my head and rolled my eyes.

"That's what he says. He says you'll get over it and it will all work out."

"Has he lost his mind?"

"I think so," he laughed. "I mean he's done some crazy shit before but…"

"He's completely in denial," Natalie shook her head sadly.

"What did he think I was going to do?"

"Not this," he smirked.

"Well, I guess he doesn't know me as well as he thinks he does," I shrugged. "It's done. He should be served any time now. That's that!"

"Shit Steph, he's gonna lose it."

"You know Cal, if he'd act like a grown up…"

"Baby I'm on your side," he grinned.

"Are you," I said softening.

"Most of our staff is on your side, hell all the staff is on your side including his partner."

"You guys are the best," I sighed and reached up to wipe my tears away.

"Don't cry. We love you. We also think you ought to take him to the mat and beat his ass…but that's just us."

"And you think he's just going to let me do that?"

"We'll hold him," he shrugged with a little grin of encouragement.

I laughed, "You guys are the best."

"Hey…you helped make us this way."

"So did he," I reminded him.

He shook his head, "that's why we love you best Stephanie."

"What do you mean?"

"You're a good person. You won't let us think less of him."

"It's not his fault that he doesn't love me. You either love someone or you don't. It's only his fault that he's an ass."

"Doesn't love you," he blinked at me incredulously. "You're kidding right."

"They're three little words," I said with a slight smile. "He can't say them. Well, he can't say them to me. He says he can say them."

"Unbelievable," he shook his head and then threw back his head and laughed, "this is rich. This is just rich."

"What's so funny," Natalie poked him in the ribs.

"I can't tell you. It's the guy code. But I can tell the other guys. Oh yea, Rangeman has no idea what he's getting himself into."

I smiled and leaned forward on my elbows, "well, take pictures."

"We'll send you video monitor films," he grinned.

"I can't wait."

"She's having dinner at Unit tonight," Natalie added with a smirk.

"You don't say," he said and leaned back in the booth and studied me. "Steph…make sure you look good tonight."

"What," I said and my best mock indignation, "Don't I look good all the time?"

"Sure," he grinned, "but tonight, you need to make sure you look real good."

"Is this going to harm anyone?"

"Probably not," he shook his head. "But it's going to aggravate the piss out of someone."

A smile tilted the corner of my mouth. This was sounding promising.


	3. Chapter 3

I dressed for dinner that night with care. I took special time with my hair. One thing I didn't do was overdo my makeup. In that one way I was becoming less and less burg and more and more ready to face the world at large. When I did go out of Trenton and search for my true self I didn't want to be hidden under pounds of makeup. I wanted to be free of all my old stereotypes.

I slid into the short blue dress and smoothed the skirt down. It hit a couple of inches above my knees. I put on my favorite pair of Manolo's and studied my reflection in the mirror. I suppose I looked pretty good. My stomach was flat. My hair was shiny. Yea, I would do.

I drove to Williamson and easily found the restaurant. It was decorated on the outside in early USO. I shuddered to think of what the inside would bring. I went through the glass doors and was pleasantly surprised. The bar was to my left and it did somewhat resemble a bar one would find on any military base complete with the requisite men in uniform leaning against the huge mahogany structure. The cocktail waitresses all wore camouflage miniskirts and black tee shirts.

To my right were the restrooms and dead ahead was the waiting area and the hostess booth.

"Hi, I'm meeting friends," I said over the din to the girl at the hostess stand.

She grinned and glanced toward the bar, "Are you meeting any of those guys in the bar?" She gestured toward the men in uniform currently checking me out as thoroughly as their eyes would allow.

I laughed, "sadly no. They do look as though they'd be a lot of fun."

"Then you must be here for Ghost," she nodded, "right this way."

She knew Mitch by the name Ghost. Well, in an establishment such as this one, I shouldn't be surprised. I followed the girl through the catacomb of tables set in somewhat private settings to a table near the back.

Mitch got to his feet as soon as I arrived, "wow Stephanie…you look gorgeous."

"Thank you," I blushed. "Cal told me to take special care with my appearance tonight."

"Yea," he grinned. "He told me. This should do the trick."

Carrie hugged me as soon as Mitch let me go. "Yea, you look even more gorgeous than usual. Mike should be floored."

"Mike," I frowned. "Why do I know that name?"

"Well if it isn't the very beautiful Stephanie Plum Manoso," Mike Stone said sliding his arm around my waist.

"Oh, this Mike," I laughed and hugged him. "I can't believe it. I haven't seen you since the cruise."

"I suspect that your husband was trying to keep you away from me for as long as possible," he grinned wolfishly.

"Well, he doesn't have a whole lot of control over me these days," I said with a small smile.

He frowned.

Mitch shook his head.

"Oh damn," he sighed. "I'm sorry Steph."

"Not your problem," I said with a smile. "Now…we're not going to discuss my failed marriage here tonight. I'm here to have dinner and to enjoy the company of good friends."

"Then I am sure as hell glad that I'm joining you guys," Mike said and waited for me to slide into the half moon shaped booth before sliding in after me.

"I should have known the moment they told me the name of the restaurant," I shook my head. "I don't know what I was thinking."

"You've sort of had a lot on your mind," Carrie said with a grin.

"Yea, sort of," I agreed.

A young woman wearing the gear of the cocktail waitresses appeared at our table and grinned, "All right ladies, which one of you has the guys in the bar in palpitations?"

"That would be her," Carrie pointed. "They wouldn't dare do it to me after Mitch gave them the look and besides, I have on pants…she's the one in the short skirt and the great legs to go with it."

"Stop," I blushed and laughed.

"Well," she fixed her amused gaze on me, "if you take all the drinks they offered to buy you you'll have trouble standing much less driving home. So what's it going to be?"

I grinned, "They're good for my ego. I needed that. Tell them thank you very much, but I'm far too emotionally fragile to play with them tonight. Tell them once I'm feeling better about myself I'll come back and play with them in the bar."

She shook her head, "you have no idea what you're getting yourself into honey. They're a bunch of horny guys."

"My favorite kind," I grinned.

"I like you," she laughed and winked at her boss before she hurried away.

Mike laughed, "She's right, you have no idea what you're letting yourself in for."

"Well, the way I figure it, if they're sincere they'll be back here every night spending money in your establishment."

"You're a great business woman…and you cook as I recall."

"I do," I nodded.

"We're going to figure out that cheesecake recipe together, right?"

"Right," I nodded.

"Well, why don't you come by tomorrow afternoon and we'll give it a shot."

"Sounds good," I agreed.

"That's good," Carrie nodded. "Your dessert menu is deplorable."

Mike grinned, "Most of these guys don't eat dessert. They can only pollute their bodies with one thing. It's either booze or sweets. Most of them choose the booze."

"But Mike," I said sweetly, "if you offered the right desserts and a few Mojitos you'd have more women in the restaurant. More women translate to more men and that translates to more revenue…do the math."

He sighed, "You're right. Tell you what, we'll go over the entire menu tomorrow and see where we need to make improvements."

"Start with more salad. The temples like salads," I said absently studying the menu.

He groaned, "I don't like salads."

"You don't have to eat them," I grinned. "But a lot of these temple boys like their green leafy vegetables."

Mitch winced and nodded, "she's right brother."

"The women will order them too," I nodded.

"You win," he shrugged. "We'll redo the whole thing."

"I can't wait," I grinned. "So tonight…you order for me."

"Really," he grinned. "Why do you want me to order?"

"This is your restaurant," I nodded. "You should know what's good."

The cocktail waitress hurried back over shaking her head. "All right, I passed on your message to the horny brigade and… I'm sorry boss," she winced.

"No problem Miranda, carry on," he grinned.

She tilted her tray and dumped a handful of papers including napkins and bits of notebook and receipts on the table. "Their phone numbers," she winked at me, "in case you get over your emotional distress early or just want something to take the edge off."

I roared with laughter and gathered the pieces of paper and shoved them into my purse. "I should thank them."

"Absolutely," Carrie grinned.

"Personally," I grinned, "let me up Mike?"

He shook his head, "we'll never get the heathens out of here."

"My tips are looking good tonight," the waitress said and followed me to the bar with Mike on her tail looking a bit protective.

"Gentlemen," I smiled from the doorway.

Mouths dropped open and they straightened.

"You are just the sweetest guys. I've had a pretty rough couple of weeks and you have no idea how much I appreciate everything you've done and said and offered tonight. I'm truly touched," I smiled. "Thank you again." I started to turn but stopped and turned back, "Oh…I also should tell you that I have a thing for men in uniform," I winked at them and turned to leave the bar to find myself staring into the face of my husband. "Great…"

"Who's he," one of the guys frowned.

"Major Manoso," one of the other guys straightened.

"Officer on the deck," someone shouted and they all leapt to attention.

"He's retired," someone else said.

"I'm not risking it," another voice declared.

"He's her husband," Mike Stone said with a slight smile.

"For now," I said softly and turned to walk back to our table blissfully unaware of the chaos that followed.

I dropped to the seat of the booth and reached for my water, "this is just great."

"What," Carrie frowned.

"That," Mitch pointed as Ranger came weaving through the tables with Mike on his tail.

"Shit," Carrie sighed, "so much for a quiet evening with friends."

"Yea," Mitch sighed.

I just shook my head.

Ranger leaned on the table with his palms down and his face furious. "I want to talk to you."

I ignored him. I didn't even look at him.

"Babe…"

I looked up at him and glared.

His nostrils flared, "Stephanie…I'm talking to you."

"Really," I said looking up at him in mock shock. "Do you have that many words in your vocabulary?"

He was really mad now. "I want to talk to you," he bit out.

"Well, Mr. Manoso, currently I'm having dinner with friends. If you'd like to make an appointment to speak to me let me know when you're available and I'll check my schedule."

"Stephanie…I swear to God," he growled.

I got to my feet and glanced at Carrie with all the false bravado I could muster, "I think I'll just powder my nose."

"Stephanie," he barked as I went by him.

I ignored him and continued on. When I got to the foyer of the restaurant he grabbed me by the arm and hustled me out the door before I even had a chance to challenge him. "I was going to the ladies room," I hissed as he dragged me down the sidewalk.

"I don't give a rat's ass."

"Yea, this always works with me Manoso. You treat me like an employee or a possession and I always docily do as you ask," I rolled my eyes. "You never ask and you sure as hell never learn that I don't like your friggin caveman tactics."

"You're my fucking wife," he said opening the passenger's door to the SUV and picking me up and putting me inside.

I didn't have time to respond. I also couldn't open the door.

"Are you kidnapping me," I hissed at him when he got into the truck and started it. "I was having dinner with friends."

"You can do it some other time."

"I had plans tonight," I said furiously.

"They're changed."

"You don't fucking own me you bastard," I shouted at him and sank into my seat with arms crossed and my entire body shaking with fury. I don't know what made me angrier. Was it the fact that he just hauled me away from my dinner companions giving me no choice whatsoever, or was it that he still had the power to make me so angry I could spit? He said I was his wife? Really, how is that working out for you I wanted to shout. I've been living somewhere else for a week. Who the hell knows where he's been? I don't care. I just fumed.

He drove and I stared out the window in silence. I wasn't going to talk to him and he couldn't make me. There was nothing he could do to make me talk. Well, there was probably something, but he was in his friggin zone and it was as though I wasn't even there. I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye and saw his hands on the wheel. His knuckles were white. I didn't know if it was rage or what, but I suspected it was. In any case, it appeared that I still had the power to affect him in some way and it wasn't always in the bedroom.

I almost groaned when I realized where he was going. He was going to the house…to our house. I felt the blood leave my face. I didn't want to go there. I didn't think I was anywhere emotionally ready for that. I bit my lip and fought the tears. I fought it hard. I didn't want him to see that I gave a damn one way or the other.

He parked in the driveway and got out of the car and waited. I refused to move. He marched around and jerked the door open. "Be an adult."

"An adult," I hissed. "Adults do not jerk people out of restaurants when they're in the middle of a nice dinner with friends so they can TALK. Adults ask when they'll be available for talking. But then…you've never been good at asking for anything, have you? Well…I don't know if that's true or not. You're not good at asking me." I crossed my arms and pressed my lips into a thin line.

"You fucking piss me off," he said and reached over me to unlock the seatbelt and pick me up. He tossed me over his shoulder as though I was nothing and carried me into the house. He carried me straight to the living room and dumped me on the couch. He tossed me down on the fucking couch I picked out! For some reason that is only logical in a woman's mind, I felt another stab of betrayal.

I struggled for control and busied myself to keep from either screaming in fury or sobbing out of control. I straightened my skirt and assumed the crossed position. My arms were crossed and my legs were crossed and I was cross. Yet I was in position. He took a folded paper with blue lining out of his jacket pocket and tossed it in my lap.

"What the fuck is this?"

I glanced down at the document. "I believe it means you've been served," I said showing no emotion.

"I've been served? What am I being served with?"

"I filed for an annulment."

"You did what," he said wide eyed.

"Did you even read it," I shook my head in astonishment.

"You filed for annulment," he said incredulously. "You can't file for annulment."

"I can and I did."

"We've had sex."

"I was drunk. In any court I can file for a divorce because I was mentally incapacitated. I was not of my right mind. You should have thought of that before you decided to trick me into marrying you like that."

"This is insane," he paced back and forth in front of the fireplace that I'd so carefully placed objects on to draw the eye and not overwhelm. The fireplace that I'd decorated with him in mind because the whole house was decorated so he'd be comfortable there and would feel at home. The only room that was mine was the kitchen. The bedroom used to be mine too, but now I didn't even think about that room being in the house. "You've lost your mind."

That just made me angrier.

"Why did you have me served?"

"You've been served so you can contest it."

"Oh I am going to contest it," he promised me. "I promise you that I'm going to contest it."

"I don't advise you to do that."

"You don't advise me," he leaned over me with his hands on either side of my head resting on the back of the couch. He was spitting fury. He was so angry that his eyes were black. "Why don't you advise me to contest it?"

"If you contest it, I'll file again for fraud."

He met my rebellious eyes and was taken aback. His next words were spoken more softly and with a hint of something that I couldn't identify in his eyes, "you wouldn't do that."

"The hell I wouldn't," I said softly.

"Steph…"

"You can let me get the annulment on the grounds that I was drunk and didn't know what I was doing, or…"

"Or…"

"Or I'll file fraud and tell the world that you misrepresented yourself to me."

"How did I misrepresent myself to you?"

I sighed, "You lied to me on every turn."

He straightened and I could see the guilt on his face. Ranger isn't good at lying. He doesn't like it. He only lies to people when he's working 'in the wind'. Oh…and obviously to me. "I didn't lie to you at every turn," he said and he started to pace.

"Really…what did you tell me the truth about?"

He swallowed.

"Right," I nodded and stared at the fireplace ignoring him. He was no longer there. He couldn't come up with a single truth for me. Jeez, I was dumber than I thought I was. This just gets better and better. And I was in love with this jackass? What does that say about me?

He sighed, "You shouldn't stay at the house in town. That house isn't secure. You won't be safe."

"It's secure enough," I said softly.

"I'll move back to seven and you can have the house."

"I…"

"You decorated it. You picked out just about everything in it. It's your house. It's your home. We used your money for the down payment."

I raised my eyes to meet his coolly, "this isn't my home. This is your Bat Cave. I was only ever a visitor here. It's a Spanish house and not a Russian Victorian. This house screams Ricardo Manoso. It doesn't scream me. I'm sure in time all the bits of me that are here will fade and be replaced with bits of someone else."

He swallowed, "I don't think they will."

I didn't even blink. "Then either get used to them, or sell the house."

His eyes dropped.

I felt a moment of triumph before the sorrow overwhelmed me again. "Can I go home now?"

"Babe…Steph…"

"I don't belong here. Find someone else to be your wife and fit in with your grand scheme. Find someone to love or find someone who doesn't love you either." I got up and walked outside and he didn't try to stop me. A few minutes after I walked outside Lester pulled up the driveway. He got out of the SUV and ran around the side and opened the passenger door and waited for me.

I walked coolly to the car and got in and never looked back. I wonder what I would have seen if I had.


	4. Chapter 4

To give myself credit, I didn't cry until the car left the driveway. If he was watching my progress on the monitors, he would have seen my stoic exit. He didn't need to know that he'd broken me and I trusted Lester not to tell him.

Lester groaned and pulled over to the side of the road and tugged his seat belt off and ran around the side of the truck and pulled me out of it and into his arms. "Come on beautiful," he said rubbing my back gently and more aggressively as the tears didn't stop but instead increased. "You're killing me here. I suck at the tears. You know I suck at the tears."

I just kept crying.

"Dude…I have a situation," Lester said helplessly. "I'm going to be late to the rendezvous." He paused listening and groaned, "we're outside the mansion. Yea…I could use some backup."

A few minutes later another truck pulled up and Mitch came straight to us. He picked me up and took me back to the truck and put me in the seat beside Carrie. Carrie pulled me into her arms and nodded to Mitch and we pulled away.

I woke up the next morning in my bed alone. Carrie was sitting in the chair by the bed sipping coffee and watching me in flannel pajamas and sleep socks.

"Good morning," she said with a small smile.

"Good morning," I said hoarsely.

"Coffee," she offered.

"Yea," I sat up and groaned. I felt like I'd been beat up.

She reached for the thermos on the floor beside her and then grabbed a cup off my dresser and poured me a cup of coffee. She leaned forward and handed it to me. "You look like hell."

"Thanks," I sighed.

"So…he hurt you again?"

"Yea," I nodded.

"And you let him because…"

"I don't let him," I sighed. "I am somehow powerless to stop him. It's a kind of power struggle I guess. As soon as the annulment goes through, I'm leaving Trenton. I can't stay here. I can't risk seeing him."

She nodded, "I understand that. I need a favor from you."

"What is that," I asked.

"Until you leave Trenton which will be about three or four months, could you keep an eye on Mitch for me?"

I blinked at her, "where are you going to be?"

"Back in Maine for a while," she said with a slight smile. "I'm going home. It's where I belong right now."

"Oh Carrie," I sighed.

"Don't," she smiled. "Mitch and I aren't in love. We're friends with privileges. We both knew it wasn't going anywhere. He's great. He's terrific. But there's just nothing there. But we kept each other company and he's going to be lonely."

"When are you leaving?"

"Tomorrow," she said with a smile.

"When will you be back?"

"In a couple of weeks," she said softly. "Just…watch out for him will you?"

I sighed.

"Do you promise?"

I nodded.

"I need the words Stephanie," she grinned.

"How ironic," I shook my head. "Yes, I promise."

She flopped up on the bed beside me. "You've been a good friend to me. I don't know if I can or will stay here when I get back. I think this could be where I belong, but I'm not sure."

"Why are you making this decision now?"

"I met someone who made me feel something that Mitch doesn't make me feel."

I blinked. "Are you serious?"

"Yea," she sighed.

"How does he feel about you?"

"The same," she shrugged.

"Well…then if you and Mitch are only…"

"I know, but it feels wrong. They're friends. It's Mike."

"Oh," I blinked.

"So I'm going to Maine and try to figure it out. I'll probably be back. I think I'll be back, but if I don't come back…you will come visit me there sometime?"

"You never know," I smiled. "Nobody can say where our paths will take us."

"You're right about that," she nodded. "Well, I think you're going to live so I'm out of here."

"Will I see you before you go," I bit my lip.

"Probably not," she shook her head. "But you've got my number. If you need me or you just want to talk…"

"Ditto," I nodded.

"Ditto," she grinned and hopped up and disappeared.

I sighed and flopped back on the bed. I guess I failed to set Mitch up with Mrs. Right. But she had met someone that could be 'the one'. Maybe I could find Mitch 'the one'. Who was I kidding? I couldn't even find my 'the one'. Not every relationship could work out. Maybe she was right that we should commiserate together, but then from what she said he didn't need those commiserating thoughts.

I got up and showered and got dressed and headed down the stairs. Mitch was sitting on my couch reading the paper. "Good morning," I said tentatively.

"Good morning," he smiled. "How are you feeling?"

"Like I've been hit by a truck…wait, no…I've been hit by a truck," I grinned. "It must be some other object."

"Like a Rangeman?"

"Yea…more like that," I agreed.

"What's the plan today?"

"I'm going to Unit to get with Mike about the menu unless Ranger's behavior has put him off the idea."

"Not a chance," he grinned. "Mike will love it. He always did like busting Ranger's chops."

"I don't blame him. I do too."

"Me too," he admitted. "Oh and don't worry about Carrie and Mike. I'm all for it. I just don't know if she realizes it will be difficult for Mike because of our history…at least for a while. I'll just have to convince him that we're still good."

"You're a good man," I smiled.

"Thanks," he smiled. "Are you ready to go?"

"Yea," I nodded. "Do you think Mike would be mad if we stopped at McDonalds on the way?"

"He'd cheer us on. He'd love us forever if we brought him a Big Mac."

"Ooh, let's have him love us forever then," I grinned.

"Okay," he nodded.

Half an hour later we were in Mike's office eating McDonalds. His staff served people the food the cooks prepared in the kitchen. We were in his office loving our Big Macs.

"Are you sure we need to serve salads," Mike groaned.

"Face it Mike," I said sincerely, "either you get a McDonald's franchise or you do what is necessary to cater to the clientele you need to make this place a huge success."

"Fine," he shook his head, "but I'm not eating it."

"Nobody said you had to," I smiled and turned my attention to the menu. "Okay, the appetizers look pretty good. But if we're talking about adding more girl food to the rest of the menu for the sake of bringing up the numbers, we should consider adding a couple of girl like appetizers."

"Like what," he asked wiping his hands on a napkin.

"I've got a mushroom recipe that's easy to prepare. It can be prepared mostly in advance and just thrown in an oven for a few minutes once that's done."

"Is it good?"

"Can I use your kitchen?"

"Tell you what," he nodded. "We stop serving food at nine tonight. The kitchen will be clean by ten. If you come by tonight, we'll play with some recipes."

"You've got it," I grinned. "I'll bring the ingredients. Prepare to eat your heart out."

"Not now though," he teased. "Right now I'm full."

"Right," I grinned.

"What do you think about the décor?"

"I think it's great," I admitted. "When I saw the outside of the place I didn't have a lot of hope, but once I was inside… Well, the outside is quirky, but once you get the clientele built up that will be a novelty that people will be excited about seeing."

"Cool," he nodded. "And these changes are going to bring in the chicks?"

"By the convertible load," I assured him. "Women are specific about what kind of places they want to go, especially when they're out with their girlfriends. You've already got the number one draw…a bunch of hot guys hang out here. Now…we have to give them the rest of the package."

"Which includes salad?"

"And dessert and chocolate martinis," I grinned.

"Seriously…chocolate martinis," Mitch blinked at me.

"Stick with me kid, I'll show you things."

"I'm sticking with her," Mitch nodded toward me.

"I think that's a good idea," Mike nodded.

There was a tap on the door and Mike called come in and a girl stuck her head in. "Mike…there's a guy to see you."

"Who is it?"

"I don't know, but he's totally hot and he doesn't seem happy."

I sighed, "Is he dressed completely in black?"

"Yes," she frowned. "How did you know that?"

"Lucky guess," I sighed. "Is there a back way out of here?"

"Yea…Meg will you show my friends out the back door?"

"Sure thing," she agreed.

When Mitch and I walked outside Tank was leaning against the wall waiting. Mitch sighed, "Man, I'm supposed to watch her not keep her trapped for him."

"I know," Tank nodded. "He's here to see Mike. I don't think he even saw your ride."

"What," Mitch frowned.

"Yea…he's off his game," he nodded. He turned to me and held out his arms.

I almost ran into them. "I was so afraid you were mad at me."

"Not a chance," he said softly. "You're my friend. He's the one who screwed up. He knows he screwed up."

"Well, maybe he won't make the same mistakes with the next woman," I swallowed and pulled away.

"Steph…does there really have to be a next woman?"

I took a deep breath, "he can't or won't give me what I want or need Tank. Would you tell your daughter to settle for less?"

He studied my face, "no. I wouldn't tell my friend to settle for less either."

"Thank you," I beamed up at him.

"You're welcome. Now get out of here before he comes out and realizes that he just missed seeing you."

I nodded and hurried toward the SUV.

Tank caught Mitch's arm. "He's in bad shape man."

"I realize that," Mitch glanced my way. "She's my priority."

"Then I guess he's mine," he nodded.

We were halfway to my house before I brought it up. "What did he mean that he's in bad shape?"

"He means Ranger," he said quietly.

"I sort of figured that part out," I admitted.

He sighed, "He means that Ranger's not being Ranger. He wasn't aware of his surroundings. He didn't even see one of his own vehicles in the parking lot and we're parked two spaces down and the lot was pretty much empty. That's not like him."

I frowned and stared out the window. "What's wrong with him?"

"If I had to guess," he said quietly, "I'd say that it's because his wife left him."

My breath caught, "he'd have to love her for it to affect him like that."

"I've always thought he loved her," he said.

"Hmmm," I sighed and turned my attention to the passing scenery.

Before heading back to Unit later that night I went to the grocery store. Mitch left me in Lester's care for a while and went to say goodbye to Carrie. Then he caught up with us at my house so he could ride with us to the restaurant. He said he wanted to sit in the kitchen and watch me cook. I suspect it was also so he could drink beer and drown his sorrows without looking like an alcoholic. But…that's just a guess.

"What's up first," Mike asked donning an apron.

"The mushrooms," I nodded.

"Let's do this thing."

We divided the labor between us and in about fifteen minutes the mushrooms were sliding into the oven to broil just a few minutes.

"That was easy," Mike said. "I can't believe anything that easy can possibly taste as good as you say."

"They do," I grinned. "They're one of Ranger's…" The words tapered off and I bit my lip and my jaw worked as I fought for control.

Mitch rubbed the back of my neck gently for a few seconds while I gathered myself.

"Anyway…he loves them," I said with a wobbly smile.

"Jesus they smell good," Lester groaned. "Did you make enough for me?"

"Of course I did," I smiled. "Okay Mike…we have about three minutes."

"Already," he frowned.

"Yea," I smiled.

"We need wine," he clapped his hand together. "How about we open a nice merlot?"

"Good," I nodded.

"Good," he hurried for the bar. When he returned with the wineglasses, he had someone else in tow. He had my husband. I was just putting the skillet of mushrooms on the stainless steel counter when they joined us.

"Uh…look who I found," Mike said. He mouthed 'I'm sorry' to me.

I just nodded and reached for some small bread plates off the shelf behind us. "Where's the silverware."

"To the right," he nodded.

I went to get the silverware and when I returned they were pouring the wine. Everyone but Lester had a glass.

"You made the mushrooms," Ranger said blankly.

"We're thinking of adding them to the menu," Mike said quickly. "Stephanie thinks that if we change the menu just a little bit for women and for men who like salads that our client base will increase."

Ranger sighed, "Well, I can't speak for the salad, but if you serve the mushrooms here I'll be here to eat even if the girls don't come."

"If he comes, the women will come," I said quietly and began gathering ingredients for the next item on our list. I could feel his eyes following me as I made several dressings and put them aside to chill. I chopped some salad stuff and studied my ingredients.

He cleared his throat. "Er…you should make him the flounder with the er…crab and lobster stuffing. That would be a big hit."

"It sounds good," Mike frowned at Ranger and then at my stiff back.

"And," Ranger went on after a few seconds pause, "you should maybe make your mother's lemon cake."

I nodded but didn't say anything.

"And any of the cheesecakes you've been working on," he finally uttered. "The hmmm…the peanut butter chocolate one is really good and I love the pineapple one too."

I nodded again and tears dripped down my cheeks and onto the counter, "excuse me." I said and ran for the ladies room. I stood in the stall trying to get my shit together. This was why I couldn't live here after we were over. I couldn't do this. I wasn't strong enough to see him. I felt a constriction in my chest the size of Chambersburg and there was no letting loose from that. After I'd calmed down I rinsed my face and congratulated myself for my new minimal makeup policy. There was no mascara running down my face and no track marks on my face to hide. I dusted powder on my nose to conceal the red and took a deep breath and headed back for the kitchen.

I paused at the door when I heard their voices.

"Man…he's an idiot. Why doesn't he just tell her how he feels?" Mike sounded annoyed. I had a feeling that Ranger wasn't in the kitchen anymore.

"Are you kidding," Lester laughed. "He's big bad Ranger Manoso. If he admits to anyone that this is destroying him…he loses his rep."

"Well," Mitch's voice added to the mix, "if that's the rep he wants to have, then she's better off without him."

"You okay," Ranger asked in a whisper.

I jumped, "jeez…you scared me."

"I'm sorry," he said quietly. "I do that a lot to you don't I?"

"If you'd gotten the bells," I started.

"No bells," he said and a hint of a smile popped up in his eyes. "Do you…do you think that you can find some time to talk to me? I mean, if it's okay. You just name the time and the place and I'll be there."

I frowned.

"If you don't want to," he backed away and the blank mask he'd perfected attempted to come down and failed. I could see the misery on his face.

"When do you want to talk to me?"

"Now," he laughed humorlessly, "but you're with friends and I don't want to interrupt that."

"Okay," I nodded. "Then…tomorrow or…"

"When you're done," he said hopefully. "No…I'm sorry. I don't mean to push."

I frowned again. Who was this guy? It wasn't the guy I knew before I married him and it wasn't the guy I was married to. I didn't know him. I took a deep breath, "all right. I'm just doing the salad and I brought the lemon cake already made. That was a good idea we had."

"Yea," he smiled. "That cake hooked me on sugar."

"Yea," I bit my lip.

His eyes focused on my mouth until he tore his gaze away. "Should I meet you somewhere or…"

"Why don't you stay and sample the salad dressings and the cake. I've never made you the salad dressing before. It's a new thing I was working on when… Anyway, you get to have some of Mom's cake."

He nodded. "If you're sure I won't be in the way?"

"Sure. You can take me home afterward and let Lester go."

He nodded.

They were quiet when we entered the kitchen. I suspect they heard voices and knew it was us and deliberately got quiet. Either they wanted to hear what we were saying or they just worried there might be a big bang.

They devoured the cake. Okay, the truth is that only Ranger ever said that his body was a temple. Mike and Mitch were both junk food junkies and Lester just liked to eat. I had one sliver of the cake and I only ate a couple of bites. Ranger finished my cake.

Mike sat back in his chair. "You've won Stephanie. We'll be adding all the things you brought to the table to the menu. But we need more. We need to test the fish dish and we need more desserts."

"I've got some ideas," I nodded.

"The cheesecakes," Ranger reminded me.

"Definitely," I agreed.

"So…how about we meet here again tomorrow night and test some more recipes?"

"You've got it," I agreed.

"We also need to find a way to pay you for this," he frowned.

"It's not important," I smiled. "I have money. I'm doing this for the joy of cooking."

"Oh," Lester moaned. "That was so bad."

"Shut up," I smacked at his arm with a grin.

"Well then," Ranger got to his feet. "I guess…"

"Err…yea," I took a deep breath. "Lester, Ranger has offered to take me home."

"Oh," Lester blinked.

"So…you are off the hook on babysitting duty tonight."

"No…"

"Yes," Ranger nodded. "I've got it."

Lester met Ranger's eyes steadily and after a few moments of silent conversation he got to his feet. "All right, then I'll see you tomorrow night," he leaned over to kiss me. "I'll see you later beautiful."

"Count on it," I smiled.

"And I am going to get some sleep and a ride home with Lester," Mitch nodded.

"And I am going to finish closing this place up," Mike grinned.

"See you tomorrow," I said accepting Mike's kiss on my cheek.

"I look forward to it."

"Me too," I assured him.

I followed Ranger outside and then in front of him to the truck. He was more aware than he'd been earlier that day, but I still wished I had a gun on me. If word was out that he was distracted, there was a good chance that he'd become a target for any of the lunatics on the street.

He settled me into the SUV and got into the driver's seat. "Are you sure about this Stephanie?"

"Sure," I nodded.

"Okay," he said and put the truck into gear.

I'm sure it would have been a difficult, but very useful conversation we were about to have. If only the restaurant hadn't started exploding as we left the parking lot.


	5. Chapter 5

As the explosions rolled the truck over and over and over I didn't even scream. It's hard to image that it's possible that you can become blasé about these kinds of things, but I'm telling you quite honestly that it's not only possible but probable that you can. I should know. My life didn't flash before my eyes. I just closed my eyes and went with it and tried to keep my body relaxed. I've learned that if you just let it toss you, you get hurt less.

When the SUV stopped moving I was dangling in the air and Ranger was below me and he was quiet. I mean he was quiet for him after something happened to us. Usually he'd be asking if I was okay or something. I could hear the sirens in the distance and knew that help was on the way. I could see the restaurant burning behind us. I could see the smaller explosions rock the building. I groaned when I realized the guys were still in the building and tears slid down my face.

"Ranger," I said softly over my tears. "Ranger," this time I said it a little more loudly to get his attention. He didn't respond to my voice. He didn't move. He was quiet. "Ranger, talk to me. Come on Ranger…talk," I pleaded. I got nothing from him. I reached for the 'oh shit' handle and pulled myself up with one hand and unlatched my seatbelt with the other and lowered myself down. I was careful to plant my feet where he wasn't. As a matter of fact, my right foot was on the pavement on Williamson Avenue right where the driver's side window used to be. I bent and touched his neck to make sure he had a pulse and breathed a sigh of relief. He was alive. That was good. I unbuckled his seatbelt and he slumped against my leg and the pavement and was still. I squatted again, "Come on Ranger…you have to help me out here. I can't lift you out of the truck honey. Please…"

I heard Mitch's voice first, "Oh my God, that's Ranger's truck." Then I heard the pounding of footsteps and Mitch's face was in the windshield. "Oh God, are you all right?"

"He won't move or answer me," I said tearfully.

"Hold on," he frowned. Seconds later he tossed a blanket into the truck through the other window. "Cover you both up. I'm going to break the windshield out."

I nodded and squatted down and covered us both up. I could hear pounding and then the glass broke and he pulled it out of the truck.

"Come on out Stephanie," he said reaching for me.

"I can't leave him," I whispered.

"Come on honey, I'll get him out. Do you smell the gas? The fire's very close. You need to get out and out of the way so I can get Ranger out."

I did smell the gas. I also heard the urgency in his voice. I moved. I swallowed and let him help me out of the SUV. I stood shivering in the middle of the street bleeding from multiple spots on my body and completely oblivious to it and any pain I may have while Mitch, Lester and Mike got Ranger out of the car. I registered that they were alive and that was one less burden. But Ranger wasn't responsive and that scared the shit out of me. The ambulance arrived just as he was laid on the ground.

"Move back," Lester yelled to the ambulance driver and the police cars arriving at the scene. "There's gas and fire."

The two vehicles moved back and the guys carried Ranger to the ambulance and inside.

"Go with them," Mitch said kissing my head and shoving me into the ambulance before the EMT got in. "We'll be there as soon as we can."

"Was there anyone else in there?"

"Everyone was out," he said seriously.

I nodded and looked down at Ranger. This was bad. This was really bad.

At the hospital they rushed Ranger immediately toward surgery and tugged me toward the ER curtains. "My husband…" I pleaded with the attendants.

"We'll let you know something when we know," the woman said kindly.

I filled out all the paperwork and got some stitches and argued with Dr. Funny Bone…or Dr. Riley about checking into the hospital. In the end, he just led me to the surgical waiting room after making me call someone to come and stay with me. I think I dialed some of the numbers automatically.

Men in black stormed the place and took up residence in varying corners and doorways. Anywhere anyone could get to either Ranger or me they were there to block. I would have expected nothing less.

An hour after I arrived at the hospital I was sitting in the surgical waiting room with Ranger's sister Celia. His parents were on their way. My parents were on their way. Ranger was in surgery. He had massive internal injuries. The airbags had not deployed. I wondered for the millionth time if it was sabotage.

Celia reached for my hand and smiled.

I struggled to force a strained smile on my face, "how long has it been?"

"It's only been a few minutes," she assured me.

I took a deep breath and got to my feet to begin pacing just as Lester, Mike and Mitch came hurrying into the room.

Mitch came straight for me and hugged me tight, "is he still in surgery?"

"Yea," I swallowed. "He has massive internal injuries."

"From the steering wheel," he frowned.

"There were no air bags," I said softly.

Lester kissed my cheek and headed for Celia. "How are you cousin?"

"I'm okay. I think I'm better than Stephanie."

"She may have left him," he said softly, "but she loves him."

"I know," she smiled. "I really do wish he'd get his head out of his ass."

"Me too," Lester sighed.

Mama and Papa Manoso came rushing into the room seconds later. They pulled me into a three way hug that made me weep with relief. I didn't know that I needed them that badly.

"Anything," Papa asked over my head to Celia.

"I'll go check."

"I know people here," I swallowed.

"This is Celia's hospital," Papa smiled smoothing back my hair. "She delivers babies here."

"She does," I smiled.

"She does," he nodded.

Two hours later the surgical waiting room was full and I was pacing. There was nothing anyone could say that could calm me. All I could think was that if he died he wouldn't know that I still loved him more than my own life. He wouldn't know. What if I had missed my chance?

Mitch dropped his arms around me and pulled me close, "you must sit and rest Stephanie. This was trauma to you as well. You know the doctors said that you needed to be admitted for observation."

"I stayed in the hospital," I said grimly. "They can observe me pacing."

"You're supposed to be resting," he said seriously as I pulled away.

"I can't…what if…what if…" My head dropped miserably. "He could die and he thinks I hate him. I…"

Mitch's hands caught my shoulders, "no honey…there is nobody in the world that thinks you hate him. Nobody…"

My father pulled me into his arms, "Pumpkin, deep inside of him Ranger knows how you love him. He does. He is understandably upset that things are as they are now, but he is completely aware that this is by his own hand. He doesn't think that you hate him."

I buried my face in my father's neck and sobbed. I was exhausted and I was scared and I just wanted to touch him again. That's all I wanted.

Hours more went by and I sat staring out the window as the sun bathed the central courtyard below. I didn't see the people meeting and hugging over coffee. I didn't see the doctors and nurses rushing through to go home or to make their shifts on time. I saw nothing. All I could see was Ranger's listless body as he was removed from the truck and as he was rushed into surgery. That's all I could see.

The waiting room door opened and the doctor came into the room with his surgical scrubs on and a very tired face. "Mrs. Manoso," he said softly and searched the room till he found my face.

I got up and started toward him on wobbly legs and Mitch caught me on one side and Papa on the other. "Yes…"

"He's in critical condition. His lung and his aorta were perforated along with quite a few other injuries. We have patched him up and now it's a waiting game. We'll need to monitor him very closely to make sure that we've done a good job, but we're…we're…," he saw Celia's face and stopped.

"Jake," she swallowed.

"It's bad Celia," he said quietly. "I don't know."

That was the last thing I heard.

I came to in my own hospital bed with my mother sitting beside me. I could see Rangeman uniforms outside the door and knew they weren't taking any chances. There was no telling who the bomb was for.

I groaned and struggled to sit up.

"You have to stay still dear," Mom said softly dropping her knitting to the floor. "You can't be moving around."

"Ranger…"

"Honey…its touch and go," she said quietly. "They're doing all that they can."

"Is it enough," I whispered miserably.

"I don't know," she said and kissed my head.

"When will we…" I groaned and struggled again to get out of the bed.

"I don't know," she said with a frown. "But you have to be still."

"Do I have another concussion," I sighed.

"Among other things," she agreed.

I rolled my neck to ease the tension, "when can I see him?"

"Celia will be here soon. She'll let you know when you can see him."

I sighed, "Mom, I know you're watching out for me. I know that you love me. But believe me when I tell you that if I don't see him soon…I'm going to lose it."

She nodded and went to the door and spoke softly to whoever was there. She returned a few moments later, "She's on her way."

Celia came bustling into the room a few minutes later wearing scrubs. "Are you giving your mother a hard time?"

"If it was your husband," I pleaded softly, "if it was…"

She put her hand up, "you can go down there for a few minutes. I mean it Stephanie. You have to be careful with yourself now."

I swallowed and whispered painfully, "I hear you, but I need him." The tears dripped down my cheeks and landed on my hospital gown.

She gritted her teeth and nodded, "Mitch?"

Mitch hurried into the room.

"Take her to Ranger."

He nodded and came toward me.

"In a wheelchair," she said in amusement. "You don't have to carry her."

"Right," he nodded and left the room to get one.

"These guys…you're around them all the time?"

"Pretty much," I agreed.

"They love you," she smiled.

"It's mutual," I said with a sigh.

"Yea," she backed toward the door, "my brother…he did good choosing you. Too bad he didn't do a better job of keeping you." She waved and left the room.

I had to agree with that one.

Mitch came back with the wheelchair and frowned.

"What is it," I raised a brow.

"You're in one of those backless numbers," he bit his lip.

"Oh…yea," I nodded.

"He'll kill me if I touch your ass," he said seriously.

I laughed, "Well, do you think it would wake him up if you do?"

He grinned, "Lester…we have a problem."

Lester stuck his head in, "what's the problem?"

"Where are Stephanie's clothes?"

"Cal and Natalie have them," he frowned and glanced over at me as the light dawned. "Oh, I'll go get them."

"Thank you," he shook his head.

Natalie came into the room moments later with a piece of my luggage trailing behind her. "You guys," she groaned and hugged me. "You've got to stop scaring us."

"Believe me," I assured her, "I'd like nothing better. Did you pack me some clothes?"

"I did," she agreed. She raised a brow at Mitch and pointed to the door, "Out."

"Yes ma'am," he grinned.

"You raised one brow," I said proudly.

"I've been working on it every day since the cruise," she said opening the suitcase. "Okay, we have panties and some nice pajamas."

"Thank you," I said sitting up gingerly before swooning. "Why am I dizzy?"

"Er…you were in a car accident," Mom reminded me.

Okay…why were her eyes shifty when she said that?

Natalie marched back to the door, "Mitch, come back."

"She's dressed already?"

"Nope, we need help. The lady is dizzy."

"Nat…," he turned pale and backed away.

"Look, if Lester does it he dies almost immediately. If Cal does it, well…our marriage may not survive. Tank is not here to help me, so it's got to be you. You're the only one left that he won't kill."

"I'll kill myself," he groaned.

"Thanks Mitch," I said and my lip trembled.

"Steph," he leaned over the bed and glared at me, "you're a beautiful and sexy woman and if that jackass of a husband of yours doesn't get his shit together I'm going to start moving in on his territory. Kappish?

I blushed hotly, "er…yea. We'll do the underwear. You do the easy part."

"Good," he straightened.

Mom, Natalie and I managed to get the panties on me. They even did a pretty damn good job of getting my pants on me. It was the pajama top that gave them hell.

"Okay," Natalie frowned. "You just keep her steady?"

"How the fuck do I do that," he groaned.

"Just put your hands on her waist and don't let her fall over."

"Oh for heaven's sake," Mom shook her head. She put Mitch's hands on my waist and glared at him, "close your eyes."

"Yes ma'am," he nodded.

Natalie grinned and they put my pajama shirt on while I blushed. "God I love being part of this very dysfunctional family."

I grinned.

"You can open your eyes now Mitchell," my mother said sweetly. "You did a lovely job."

"Thank you ma'am," he nodded and scooped me up and put me into the wheel chair.

"Thank you Mitch," I said quietly. "I want to see my husband."

He rolled me down the hall into the critical care unit. The nurse smiled at me, "Hello Stephanie."

"Hi Glenda," I said breathlessly.

"He's hanging in there," she said seriously.

"I'm going in," I said and my jaw set.

"I wouldn't dare try to stop you," she assured me.

Mitch wheeled me into the room and pushed me to the bed and left me alone in the room.

I struggled to get the courage to raise my head and look at him. Instead I found his hand and reached for it and leaned my face on it and cried. After I cried myself out I struggled out of the chair and managed to make my way onto the side of the bed. It was then that I looked at him. He was hooked up to tubes and oxygen machines. I wasn't sure he was breathing on his own.

"Ranger," I whispered as my fingers slid over his face to his throat, "Ric…I love you. I can't stop that and I'm not sure that I want to anymore. It's the purest, truest feeling I've ever felt in my life and I don't want to stop. I love you. I love you so much. I need you to stay with me. I need you on this planet even if we're not together. I need you to stay…please stay. Please," I choked over my tears. I lay down on the bed beside him in the narrow space that he wasn't using. I rested my face against his arm and just breathed him in. No matter what life gave or took from me I knew that he was my love and my life. I think I've known that almost as long as I've known him even if I didn't want to admit it to myself. I could walk away from Joe, but Ranger never asked me to. When Joe wanted me to walk away from Ranger, I couldn't do it.

"You know," I said tracing patterns on his palm with my fingers, "the first time I saw you…I felt the tingle and the feeling in my belly and below," I smiled and kissed his arm. "God, I had no idea that it was possible to get that kind of immediate attraction. You kept telling me that you'd ruin me for all other men," I smiled. "Wow…you do live up to your word." I swallowed. "Do you know what loving you means to me? It means knowing that I'm safe whenever you're near. It means knowing that you'll keep me in check and as much as it sometimes annoys me, I know I need it. I don't think someone who was meeker than you could really handle me long term. I know I don't want a man who will let me run him anymore than I want a man who will run me. I want a partner. You've proven, for the most part, to be a good one. We're a good team." I sighed. "And every time I look at you, my breath catches…even now you're so impossibly beautiful that my heart is pounding out of control and I just can't stop looking at you."

A few moments lapsed, "that's why I want to have babies with you. I always imagine that we'll have children that look just like you," I whispered. "I don't care if they look a thing like me, I want them to look just like you so when you're working…I can still see you living and breathing all around me."

His hand tightened on mine.

I raised my head and blinked. He was looking at me. "Oh God…I love you. I love you." I reached for the call button and Glenda came hurrying in. "He's awake."

She smiled, "I'll page Dr. Kent."

"Thank you," I said and never once did I take my eyes from Ranger's. "Don't leave me. Don't you dare leave me!"

He squeezed my hand again and closed his eyes. I panicked for a moment, but the steady hum of the machines and the steady beep of the heart monitor finally convinced me that he was alive.

Celia came rushing in followed by the surgeon, "he's awake?"

"He looked at me," I beamed over my tears, "and he squeezed my hand."

The surgeon came close and Ranger's eyes opened again. "He's awake," he confirmed.

"I have to go tell my parents," Celia said tearfully and hurried out of the room.

"Mrs. Manoso, I think I'm going to have to ask you to move off the bed while I check him out."

Mitch came rushing in.

"He's awake," I said tearfully.

Mitch smiled and put me back into the wheelchair.

"Just wait outside for a few moments."

"But…"

"Please," he said softly.

I sighed, "Okay, take care of him."

Mitch wheeled me out of the room and another nurse headed inside. Mitch leaned against the wall and I just sat there and struggled for control. Ranger's parents joined us in our wait with Celia in tow. Both leaned down to kiss me.

"We should have taken her to see him sooner," Mama said seriously. "He would have come out sooner if he knew she was there."

"I know Mama," Celia said softly. "But since she was out…there wasn't much chance of that."

She sighed.

"Wait…how long have I been out," I frowned.

"Day before yesterday," Mitch said quietly.

"Oh," I blinked. I slept an entire day.

"You needed it," Celia assured me. "Believe me when I tell you that it was necessary for your body."

Mitch shook his head at her.

She sighed heavily and leaned against the wall beside him.

He nudged her with his shoulder and she relaxed.

Something was going on there. I didn't sense anything between them romantically, but they definitely knew something that I didn't know.

Dr Kent emerged from the room with a smile. "He's awake. He's lucid. He's aware. He's very worried about his wife," he smiled at me. "I think we're out of the woods."

I felt the world lift off of me. "Can I go back in there?"

"Let us get him a little more comfortable first and then you can take a few minutes before we move him out of CCU. This ward is for people in danger."

I smiled, "Thank you."

"You're very welcome," he winked at Celia and returned to the room.

I felt my body relax in the chair and then, once again, the world went black.


	6. Chapter 6

I came to and I was once again in that hospital bed, but now I had a roommate. My roommate was my husband and he was watching me in concern.

My mother got to her feet and pushed my hair back, "how are you feeling Stephanie?"

"I did it again, didn't I?"

"You did," she agreed.

I sighed, "It's the stress."

"I'm sure that's it dear," she smiled. "I think I'll leave you two alone for a few moments."

"Okay," I nodded.

She left the room closing the door behind her.

"You're okay," Ranger said hoarsely.

"Well…I've been better," I said with a lop-sided grin.

"Yea," he sighed. "When we started rolling I…"

I smiled, "you know that you scared the shit out of me, right?"

He kept his gaze on mine, "I know."

"Don't do that again," I said softly.

"I will try really hard not to," he assured me with a slight smile. "Stephanie…"

"Hmmm," I licked my lips nervously.

"We still need to talk," he said seriously, "but not here."

"I know," I sighed. "Can I ask one question?"

"Anything," he agreed.

"Will it make me more unhappy to have this conversation than I already am?"

He swallowed and his jaw clenched and unclenched, "I sure as hell hope not."

I stared into his eyes and again, there was no blank face there. His mask was gone. His emotions were there and raw. He was in pain and not just the physical pain that his wounds had given him. His heart hurt. I nodded.

He swallowed again, "I…I heard you."

At one time it would have embarrassed me that he'd heard me, but now…well, he already knew that I loved him. What could be worse? "Okay," I whispered.

"And I never hated you," he said softly. "And I never thought you hated me either," he said sincerely.

"I didn't say that," I frowned.

"No…your father did," he said quietly, "when I was in the coma. He told me that I had to come out of the coma because he couldn't stand to see you hurting and believing that I'd die thinking you hated me."

"Oh," I sighed heavily.

"I never thought that," he winced. "I knew you were angry, but I never thought you loved me any less than you did before I hurt you."

I swallowed and tears filled my eyes and I dropped to my back. "Well…you know me pretty well."

"I know," he sighed.

Celia breezed into the room with my chart in her hand. She smiled and leaned over to stick the thermometer in my mouth. "So you two have been talking?"

Ranger rolled his eyes.

"Be careful there little brother, you might sprain something," she said good naturedly. "Good," she nodded. "Okay Steph…are you still feeling dizzy?"

"No," I shook my head.

She pulled my pajama shirt up and pressed gently into my belly. "We're going to do an ultra sound in a little bit. We're going to do it in here. I just want to make sure that everything is okay."

"Okay," I frowned as my mind searched backwards for something that just didn't feel right.

She walked over to Ranger and clutched the chart to her chest, "how are you feeling?"

"Like I was in a truck that rolled over a few times after being blasted by an exploding building," he said shaking his head.

"Careful, you'll jar something else loose."

"You're funny…real funny," he shook his head. "Celia, why does Stephanie need an ultra sound? Papa told me that she wasn't even checked into the hospital when she arrived with me."

"Papa would be right about that," she said and sank down on the stool between our beds. "She refused admittance because she wanted to be where she would know what was going on with you. She was checked in when she passed out in surgical waiting. We ran a couple of tests while she was in lala land to make sure that there wasn't anything more seriously wrong that we missed the first time. There was a complication we didn't expect and we had to make sure that everything was okay."

"What kind of complication," he frowned.

"Celia," I frowned. "Aren't you an OBGYN?"

She grinned, "Yes I am."

"Is there something wrong with my female equipment?"

"I hope not. I don't think so."

I sighed in relief.

We sat in silence for a few minutes. I mean nobody said a word.

"Why are we just sitting here," Ranger frowned. "Are you waiting for the equipment?"

She took a deep breath, "We're waiting for the parents."

"Celia, what's wrong," Ranger said and I could hear the panic in his voice.

"I'm sure it's nothing," I said softly meeting Celia's eyes pleading reassurance. "They would have told us if there was something wrong…right? You would have said something…Celia?"

The door swung open before she could answer and all four of the parents came in and they had looks of pure trepidation on their collective faces. That couldn't be good.

My gaze swept from one to the other and back to Celia, "if nothing is wrong, then why do they look so friggin nervous?"

"Because they're not sure how you're going to take this," she said with a sigh.

I shook my head in confusion. "How we're going to take what?"

My father came around the bed and took my hand.

"Who wants to tell them," Celia asked.

"I'll do it," Papa said seriously.

"Okay," she nodded.

"Ricardo, get you head out of your ass and live up to your obligations. Stephanie, move home with your husband and work this out."

"But…," I began.

"Shhh," my father shook his head. "This is no longer about just the two of you." He put his hand on my flat belly, "your child deserves to have a normal life with two parents. Think of him or her."

I looked down at my belly and then around the room. I glanced over at Celia, "but…I had the shot."

"It's not one hundred percent effective especially if you're going at it like bunnies."

I blushed hotly.

"Wait," Ranger blinked and shook his head, "we're pregnant?"

"Well," Celia grinned, "technically only Stephanie is pregnant. She's about three weeks along. So…yes, you're pregnant."

"Holy shit," I whispered.

"Well," Papa said and stood up. "That's settled then. Estefania is pregnant and Ricardo is going to raise his child the right way…not in another country or in another state and this baby will know his cousins."

"Holy shit," I whispered again.

Ranger glanced over at me in concern. "Papa…I will do what is right here, but…"

"But nothing," he glared at his son. "And you better come up with the right words to say boy-o or you'll be dealing with me." He got up and walked out of the room.

"And me," my father said joining him in the hall.

"Holy shit," I swallowed watching them leave the room. Soon we were alone in the room and all I could say was, "holy shit."

"Steph…are you okay?"

I swallowed, "what are the odds it's a goldfish?"

His lip twitched and he struggled to control his face before a laugh burst out of him and he bent double in pain even as he winced.

"It's not that funny," I sighed and flopped back in disgust and, well it was probably terror.

Mitch stuck his head in, "all right in here?"

"Peachy," I sighed.

"Dude, you're going to break open some stitches," he said seriously to Ranger. "You're taking the news better than we hoped." He left the room quietly shaking his head.

Ranger sobered, "Steph…"

"No, I'm fine," I said as my hand slid over my belly. "No wonder they were being so careful with me. They were afraid if you died that…" The realization took my breath. This child would be all I had. Tears ran unchecked down my face. "A…a…and we didn't even get a puppy," I said as the sobs came rushing out.

He groaned, "Stephanie…please, I can't come over there and comfort you and…"

I got out of the bed and padded over to him in my bare feet and climbed in beside him and curled up and cried.

He sighed as his arm circled around me and brushed my hair back gently, "it's going to be okay."

"You could have died," I whispered as I sniffed. "You almost did."

"But I didn't," he said softly.

I swallowed and looked up at him, "is it safe to raise a child in the suck zone?"

His lips twitched again.

"Don't you dare Ricardo Carlos Manoso," I glared at him.

"Stephanie," he sighed, "you never disappoint."

Really, that was all that needed to be said at that point.

Celia came back with a machine a little bit later and proceeded to check me out via the ultra sound. "Now…we won't see much. It's too early for anything. Right now, your baby will look like a little bean."

"What kind of bean," I frowned.

"A kidney bean," she shook her head with a smile.

"Why a kidney bean," I frowned. "I mean…it's barely out of the egg stage right? Why doesn't it look like a pea?"

She straightened her face, "I'm not sure. But it looks like a kidney bean. She pushed my pajamas down and put some cool gel on my belly and turned the machine on and began to roll something around on my stomach. The monitor was facing me so Ranger couldn't see anything. He looked a little frustrated and tried to crane around to see before the pain took him back down.

I sighed. I didn't see anything that looked like a kidney bean or a pea. There sure wasn't a goldfish in there.

"There," Celia said in satisfaction and pointed to the screen.

I leaned a little closer and sure enough, there was a kidney bean on the screen and therefore in my womb. "It does look like a kidney bean," I said with a slight frown and a whole lot of awe.

"I want to see it," Ranger scowled in frustration.

"Just a minute," Celia shook her head. "He's always been this impatient." She pressed a button and something started to print and she turned the monitor.

"Where is it," he frowned.

She put her finger on the little kidney bean thing.

"Wow," he blinked. "It's definitely not a goldfish."

"Nope," I sighed.

Celia's lips twitched. "Is this the fish, kitten, and then puppy thing again?"

"Yea," I nodded staring at the picture she handed me.

She pressed the button again and another picture began to print and then a couple more. "Well, that was a ridiculous theory anyway. The only way you learn to be a parent is to be one."

"Great," I groaned. "That can't be good for the kid. I mean what if we screw up? We're prone to that, you know? We could do irreparable damage to the bean before we have a friggin clue."

Her lips twitched again, "you'll find it comes naturally to you."

"Easy for you to say," I scowled, "you're a friggin obstetrician."

"Okay," she nodded and turned off the machine after gathering the pictures. She handed one to Ranger, "this is your child. Get used to it." Then she pushed the machine out of the room without a backward glance.

"But the other pictures," I frowned and called after her.

"Do you really think I can leave this room alive without pictures for the parents?"

She had a point.

"It really does look like a kidney bean," Ranger sighed staring at the picture.

"Do you think it's a boy kidney bean or a girl kidney bean," I frowned.

"I have no idea," he said thoughtfully. "It doesn't have a penis or a bow in its hair."

"Hardeharhar," I sighed. "You're a laugh a minute."

"I try," he shook his head.

"I think it will be a girl kidney bean," I said thoughtfully and with just a hint of malice.

"Why," he frowned and I could see the suspicion on his face. When he dropped the blank mask, it was truly gone. Now, whether that was because he'd just lost it temporarily due to pain or something, I couldn't say. It could be back tomorrow. Or maybe, just maybe, there was something in that truck roll that jarred things around in his head that made him unable to control the mask. What if he couldn't control the eyebrow either? I'd be a little bit ahead of the game then.

"Because you need to get some pay back for not taking any names and we both get to suffer for it," I glared at him. He'd had anonymous sex just for the release my ass. He'd had it with women! I hope. I mean, I'm pretty sure. No…Christian said he screams hetero. It was women he was messing with. "This baby will look just like you and be gorgeous. You're going to want to lock her into an ivory tower until she's fifty."

"Fifty is too soon to let her out if she looks anything like you," he raised a brow.

"Yea well, get used to it because she will be gorgeous."

He groaned.

"And if it's a boy who looks like you, I will have to have myself committed to an institution by the time he's sixteen."

"Sixteen," he raised a brow.

"Because there will be a blue zillion little slutty Joyce Barnhardt lookalikes that will want in his pants."

"Oh God," he groaned.

"Hey, maybe they'll put Joyce and me in adjoining rooms and we can chat."

His lip twitched.

"Don't laugh at me Ricardo," I glared.

"Right," he put his head down and lifted the picture to stare at it.

I sighed and curled up and gazed at the photo in my hand.

He stared at it for a long time before he looked back over at me. He had fear in his eyes and excitement and a few more things I'd never seen before. He also looked a hell of a lot more protective than I've seen him look and trust me when I tell you this. I've seen him look protective. He took a deep breath, "we're going to have a baby."

My breath caught, "a baby." When you say it like that, it's not really a kidney bean at all…or a goldfish. It was a tiny little miracle growing inside of me. It was a piece of Ranger that I'd always have. His DNA was hanging out in my uterus. Yea, I can get a little gross when I'm philosophical. Sue me.

"Yea…we're going to have a baby," he grinned.

I stared at him for a few moments. He was afraid of marriage and children and he had this friggin fish, kitten and puppy theory to learn nurturing and if I didn't know any better, he was happy about this little bean in my belly. I sighed. "You need a nap," I shook my head. "You've had a very stressful day."

"We're having a baby," he smiled and closed his eyes.

I shook my head. The man was nuts. He was happy about this? Did he have any idea how much we had to fix before this little person came shooting out causing me horrific pain and scarring me forever down below in my happy place? Oh shit! This little being was going to come out of my hoohah. It would be larger than Ranger's er…his…er… seed planter. (I was really going to have to work on my potty mouth if we were going to have a kid running around.) It was friggin going to hurt. I groaned.

"What's the matter Babe," Ranger frowned.

"When you get better," I growled. "I'm going to kill you."

"What did I do," he blinked.

"You planted a seed with your seed planter," I hissed.

"I beg your pardon," he frowned.

"You and your….your…your…magic dick got me pregnant."

"Stephanie," he said and his lip began to twitch, "wait…did you call my dick a seed planter."

"That's what it is," I glared. "We have to find new words for things. We have a child to raise. We can't talk like we have done. We have to clean up our language mister."

"Seed planter," he shook his head.

"Well, I don't know a clean word to call it. Do you want me to tell our daughter about penises?"

"No…I do not," he glared.

"But that's not the point mister…I'm pregnant. Eventually the kidney bean will have to come out and it won't be small. You're enormous!" I swallowed the shock and fell back.

"Yes…babies come out," he nodded.

"The baby has to come out…from down there," I pointed.

"Oh…oh," he winced.

"Oh, oh is right," I glared.

"You really very sort of…small down there," he pursed his lips thoughtfully.

"Duh," I said shaking my head.

"That's gonna hurt like a son-of-a-bitch."

"Oh you're damn right it's gonna hurt," I glared.

"I think you should start thinking about an Epidural or maybe having a C-section," he said seriously.

"Cesareans are for women who can't do it naturally. I'm not having an epidural. The baby needs to be born naturally. It's better for her growth and development. The drugs will put her months behind on walking and talking and learning her ABCs."

"I think you need to decide that later, once you've got the facts. I also think you need to stop referring to the kidney bean as a 'her'. We don't know if it's a boy kidney bean or a girl kidney bean."

"Well, karma suggests that it's probable that this is a girl kidney bean," I tapped the photo in my hand.

"I'm going to have to up the security around the house," he frowned thoughtfully.

"And when she comes out of my hoohah, the same friggin route you put her in, may I add, I'll be doing it naturally because it's best for her future development."

"Stephanie…"

"And you're going to be right there with me through the entire thing."

"Babe…"

"Don't you Babe me," I hissed. "You did the fun part. You get to stick around for the rest."

He swallowed and lay back on the bed with a groan. "If I see that happen, I may never be able to touch you again. What if I'm like Elvis and once you're a mother I can't you know…perform?"

"Right…you'll perform. You're one Cuban hormone," I rolled my eyes.

"Hey…you're one huge Hungarian hormone. Don't cast aspersions on our hormone heritage."

"You sound ridiculous."

"Well, this conversation borders on the ridiculous. For Christ sakes Stephanie, right now it's a kidney bean."

"But someday she'll be a gorgeous sixteen year old girl with Cuban and Hungarian hormones," I glared at him.

He swallowed and true fear showed on his face, "She will be… Oh God. I'm in trouble."

"We're in trouble," I said grimly.

"There are always consequences for the good stuff in life."

"No shit Sherlock," I growled.


	7. Chapter 7

I was released from the hospital the next day and Ranger would be moved to a private room. He would be there for a little while longer. He was still being watched pretty closely just in case anything was leaking in there. Who knows what's been lost already, I mean other than his ability to maintain a blank face and his obvious loss of the eyebrow lift.

I showered and dressed and started packing my bag quietly. He watched me from his hospital bed. And there was only one way I could describe the look on his face. He was scared. Wow! That was big. I didn't even know he could feel fear. I mean, I assumed he could. All human beings have fear. If nothing else living with him for those several weeks, I learned he is entirely human. But even with Scrog, he hadn't shown fear. He'd just walked in with his blank face on and took the bullet. God, I was terrified. He showed no fear.

I watched him out of the corner of my eye as I packed. He was having a hard time and he was clearly frustrated. I could tell he wanted to say something, but he was struggling.

"Where are you going to go," he finally said hoarsely.

My hands stilled and I swallowed.

"I mean," he said in a voice barely above a whisper, "where are you going to sleep tonight?"

I felt my body sag. "I was planning on going back to…"

"But we have the baby to think of now," he whispered.

"I know," I said softly, "but what have we really done to change the way things were the last time we talked? I still love you and you still don't love me."

"I've told you that I love you before," he whispered.

"Yes, you've said that you love me in your own way and…"

"Just…we can't fix it if we're not together."

"I'm not even sure we can be together."

"Don't," he pleaded softly.

"We haven't really resolved anything between us Ranger."

"I know," he swallowed.

"But the bean does change things."

"Do you mean… I mean are you going to go ahead with the annulment?"

"I…I…"

"I just want… I think we…," he groaned and rubbed his face with both hands in frustration. "We need to be careful what we do."

"I know that," I said quietly. "Like my father said, it's not just about us anymore."

"Right and I don't feel like you're safe at that house. I mean I can't protect you or the bean as well there," he said softly.

"What do you want me to do?"

"Move home," he whispered.

My breath caught, "we haven't fixed anything. We can't ignore what happened between us Ranger."

"I know and I don't want to ignore it," he said and his expression bordered on anxious. "God Stephanie, I know I don't deserve another chance with you. I know that. But failing you is the worst thing I've ever done in my mind and… I can't just let you walk away from me without trying to fix it."

"If the bean wasn't involved, would you still feel that way," I said softly.

"Oh God…the bean has nothing to do with wanting to fix things between us. Why do you think I wanted to talk to you in the first place when we were at Unit? I wanted to try to fix it. I wanted to make things better. I hate that we're like this…well, like we are…like we were. But to answer your question, yes the bean is making me push harder. I don't want our child to grow up being shuttled from one household to another and… I can't…" He groaned and let out a growl of frustration. "I need to fix this."

"Why," I whispered.

"For you and me," he groaned. "I need to fix it for us and then for the bean. I have to think about us first right now. I can't even tell that you're pregnant right now when I look at you. All I see is the girl I married."

"The girl you tricked into marriage."

"Yes, I did," he nodded tiredly.

"We should talk about this some time when you're not in the hospital."

"We have to talk about it now before I miss the only chance I have to get you home with me."

"Ranger," I sighed.

"Stephanie, I'll do what I need to do to fix us. I think maybe I should see Dr. Addison and maybe we can do some marriage counseling."

I whirled around wide-eyed and stared at him in shock.

"I don't want to lose you Stephanie," he said softly.

I swallowed and tears filled my eyes, "because I'm your friend or…"

"Because you're more than that," he groaned. "You were right…I can't say the words…to you. I can't… I can say them to my parents. I can say them to my daughter. I can't say them to a woman. I haven't said them to a woman in twelve or thirteen years. If I don't fix this, I'll be telling the bean I love her and I won't have ever said it to her mother without a qualifier. There's something…there are some things I need to fix."

I nodded. "Do you mean this?"

"I mean it. As soon as I get out of here, I'll make an appointment. I give you my word."

"You better mean it. Your lies hurt me more than I've ever been hurt before."

"Why," he whispered.

"Because I love you," I groaned. "And because…I believed in you. I trusted you."

"I'm sorry," he whispered and he paled. "I never wanted to hurt you. I'll see the shrink. I'll get the help. We'll go to counseling and learn to do whatever we have to do to make it work. Just don't walk away from me."

"You're an ass," I said and walked over to his bed with tears rolling down my face. I leaned down and took his face in my hands, "don't deceive me again Ricardo Manoso."

"I won't. I promise you that I won't," he rushed to promise me and turned his face into my hand to kiss my palm.

"Okay," I sighed and put my hand up and pushed my fingers through his hair.

"Will you come home? Please come home Stephanie. It's not home without you in it."

I swallowed. "I won't sleep with you till this is fixed. I mean it Ranger. Don't even try."

"I won't. I promise I won't," he swore.

"Then…I'll go home," I sighed.

Relief seemed to flow right out of his pores.

"Come on, you knew I would if you asked me," I sighed.

"No…I didn't," he said honestly. "I know I hurt you. I know I did. I wasn't sure that you'd ever… I mean, I thought I'd killed us pretty damn good."

"I thought you did too," I said tiredly.

"I'll do what it takes. I promise."

I nodded, "I'll trust you with this. Don't disappoint me." The words left my mouth and Mitch came into the room with a wheel chair.

"Come on little Mommy, let's get you home."

"Our home," Ranger said softly.

Mitch cocked a brow at me in question.

"Our home, but I have to go to the other place and get my stuff first."

"Someone else will do that. You're supposed to be home resting."

I shook my head, "who says?"

"Celia," he grinned. "She threatened me. I'm your baby-sitter until your husband gets out of here. So…let's go."

"Wait a minute," I frowned. "Why do I have to rest?"

"Oh I don't know," he rolled his eyes. "It could be because a blast rolled a truck you were buckled into over a couple of times and you're in the first trimester of this pregnancy."

"Uh," I frowned.

"To make sure the baby is okay," he shook his head. "Now let's move it. Scoot…"

"Bossy," I shook my head with a smile and leaned down to kiss Ranger's worried brow before following Mitch's orders. "You're lucky you're one of my favorite men in the world or we'd be fighting right now."

He grinned, "Just remember that when I wake you up from naps to make you eat."

"That's so wrong," I sighed.

"Come on you," he smiled and started to turn the chair around.

"Hey," Ranger called from the bed a little hoarsely.

"Yep," Mitch turned to meet his boss and friend's eyes.

"Just remember," Ranger said meeting Mitch's eyes. "She's mine."

Mitch grinned, "Well, that remains to be seen."

Ranger glared at him.

Mitch laughed, "We'll see if you improve your skills as a husband. I'm a patient man. I can wait." Then he whisked me out of the room leaving Ranger sputtering and me fighting a big case of the giggles.

"Well, that was interesting," I shook my head as the laughter died in me.

"I already told you that if he wasn't around I'd be after you," he said with a smile. "I wasn't kidding."

"Good to know," I nodded.

The thing is…Mitch is like Ranger. He's pretty honorable. Now, Ranger has screwed up some and I'm pretty sure that Mitch has too, but they're both good men deep down inside. Mitch is also disturbingly attractive. He has black hair, like Ranger. He is tall and built like a concrete and steel building. He has these amazing silvery eyes. I mean I think he can see in the dark with those suckers. They are really sort of molten silver. He's hot. I can't imagine why Carrie felt no chemistry. If my husband dumps me or fails to find a way to reassure me that he loves me unconditionally, he may be on my dance card some day.

Mitch started driving toward the house and he disappeared into the Rangeman zone. A few of the guys really had it down pat. Tank, Ranger and Mitch were the best at it, but any one of the other guys could just close off and drive. I knew that somewhere in their heads they were thinking about things, but you sure couldn't tell it by their driving.

"We should stop at the grocery store," I suggested.

"Nope," he shook his head. "There's food in the house. The mothers and Ella have loaded us down. We're good to go."

"You're babysitting me the entire time?"

"Yep," he nodded. "My bag's in the back of the truck."

"And how do you plan to entertain yourself while you're babysitting me?"

"You're pretty much entertainment in your own right Stephanie," he said with a slight smile. "I think we'll find something to do."

I swallowed. I knew he wouldn't poach on his friend's wife. He was just screwing with me because he could. "You're going to be using double entendres during the entire time you're there?"

"Oh yea," he nodded with a satisfied smile.

"Great," I sighed and sank down in my seat.

"What…will it bother those infamous Hungarian hormones of yours?"

"Infamous," I straightened and blinked at him.

"Well, it's no wonder that you're pregnant. Apparently Ranger was late for work every day for weeks because you two were busy playing doctor or whatever you want to call it."

My mouth dropped open and I blinked.

"Is it a false statement?"

"I don't have to answer that," I glared at him and crossed my arms in defiance.

"Well, that's okay. You don't have to answer me anyway. The look on his face every day said it all. He was getting laid all the time. Now the way I figure it, the last time you could have gotten laid was about thirteen days ago and if what I've heard and what I've surmised is true, you're going to be getting an itch. Now…I'm not going to scratch it, nor am I going to offer to scratch it. But I will be aware that the itch is there and as long as morning sickness doesn't interrupt your hormonal rampage, then I'm gonna tease you unmercifully with innuendo and that sort of thing. So…when Ranger comes home…"

"Jeez," I shook my head, "that's wrong. That's just very, very wrong."

"Hey, I'm not poaching. I'm setting my friend up for a night of great pleasure. Just promise me that you'll try not to kill him."

"You're funny," I shook my head. "You're real funny. It won't work."

"Oh it's gonna work," he grinned. "And Rangeman has no idea how much he's gonna owe me after this."

"You're insane," I sighed as he pulled into my garage.

"Maybe," he grinned. "And maybe I'm just screwing with you now. You'll have to wait and see."

"I'm praying for morning sickness," I told him.

He laughed. "I suspect you are."

That night I curled up in the bed I'd bought to share with my husband for the first time in about two weeks. The only thing missing from that blissful feeling was him. Mitch had actually been very well behaved that night. He'd warmed up dinner for me and made sure that I had plenty of movies to watch. When my things were delivered from the other house, he took them upstairs and stowed them on the chaise so I could put them away later. He ran to answer the phone and brought it to me if it was a call I should take. He coddled me. It's true. I was spoiled. He also made sure that I called the lawyer and stopped the annulment, which…I did.

Whether he brought it on by suggestion or what, I don't know, but morning sickness started the next morning. I'll be real with you here. I don't know why they call it morning sickness. There's no specific time of day that you have to bend over the toilet and lose the contents of your stomach. It is pretty much a sure thing that it will be in the morning though.

I tried crackers and soda water before even setting foot out of bed. I tried cheese. I tried ravioli. The ravioli was my mother's suggestion and I don't recommend you try it. Mama suggested a bean and rice burrito. I don't suggest that either. It tastes good both ways, but the beans come out my nose. Besides, I am really having a hard time eating beans considering the kidney bean in my womb.

I was lying face down on the bed with my head hanging off over a plastic trash can when they brought Ranger home. I was definitely not 'in the mood'. And to be truthful, Mitch hadn't really done any of the things he had threatened to do. Of course, it could be that I was too sick to care. It could go either way.

Ranger stopped in the doorway and then came into the room slowly. "Are you okay?"

"Uhhh," I groaned.

"What's wrong," he frowned and squatted by the bed.

"Sick," I muttered.

"Why," he frowned.

"You," I groaned and reached for the trash can.

He straightened and reached for my hair to keep it back. "Me," he blinked as I heaved. "What did I do?"

"You got her pregnant asshole," Mitch grinned and went into the bathroom and got a cool wet washcloth and returned with it. "When she finishes, wash her face with that."

"How long as she been like this," he asked.

"Since the morning after we got here."

"How long is she going to be like this?"

"There's no telling. It could end today. It could end after the first trimester, or she could be one of the lucky few that are sick through the entire pregnancy. Each woman handles it differently and according to all the books and your sister, all the pregnancies are different as well."

"Is she going to be all right like this? I mean this can't be good for either her or the bean."

"The female body is equipped for this," he clapped him on the back. "You have some books to read," he pointed to the side of the bed. "According to the books, the bean is making room in your wife for growth. She's moving things around."

"She," he said hoarsely. "You don't know that it's a she."

He grinned, "Stephanie has a great theory about the sex of your bean. You should ask her about it when she's through."

"I've heard it," he said grimly and rolled me to my back to wash my face.

"Well, you're probably going to hear it again. She's got it stuck in her head. Also, you're now in charge of reading to her. She gets sick when she reads, so I've been reading all the manuals to her," he gestured toward the bed to her. "I had to look at illustrations man. You didn't warn me about this when I signed on to this job."

Ranger raised his head to look at his friend, "I'll be honest with you, I didn't have a clue this would ever happen. I think I sort of thought the babies just came out and life went on. You know…they grew in the bubble and then…"

I pinched his arm.

"Ouch…what was that for," he frowned at me.

"Planned bean," I glared at him.

He winced sheepishly. "I didn't plan it. I just, well…I thought maybe we might have some kids some day."

"Ass," I grunted and rolled out of the bed and headed for the bathroom.

"Has she been this grouchy the whole time," he asked Mitch.

"No, that's new," he said cheerfully heading for the door. "I think it's just for you."

"Great," he sighed and flopped back on the bed. "That's just great."


	8. Chapter 8

Ranger's arrival home wasn't much of a distraction from my current state of being. I think the Pope or Brad Pitt could have come through the bedroom and I'd have only acknowledged them with a grunt. I wasn't interested in seeing or talking to anyone unless they could ease the disgruntled feeling in my stomach. Ranger was the head of the list of the people I didn't want to see considering he was the reason why I was in that predicament.

When I finished using the bathroom and brushing my teeth, I went back to bed and didn't even acknowledge that he was in the room. I had no energy. I don't know how Val did this three times. Of course, I didn't get to see her pregnant with either Angie or Mary Alice, but with Lisa I don't remember her being this bad. Mary Lou didn't go through this. I would have remembered that for sure.

When I next opened my eyes it was dark in the room and my stomach had settled a good deal. As a matter of fact, I was hungry. I didn't know how long that feeling would last, but I thought it was a good idea to fill up on some fuel before the vomit monster returned.

I took a quick shower and when I exited the bathroom Ranger was there with a tray of food for both of us.

"You just got out of the hospital after dying and you're serving me dinner?"

"Well, actually Mitch fixed the dinner. He also carried it up here. All I am supposed to do is eat dinner with you and read to you."

I grinned, "Really…you're going to read to me?"

"Er…yea," he nodded. "Is that okay? Mitch said I had to. He said you got nauseous when you read."

"That's true, I do," I nodded. I studied him thoughtfully, "well, it's your lucky day today anyway. Celia sent me a movie. We're going to watch it instead." I reached for my nightstand and handed him the DVD.

"Okay," he started to get up.

"Uh…Ranger," I smiled.

"Yea," he turned back to me.

"You might want to wait until after you've eaten," I suggested.

He looked down at the DVD in his hand, "what's on this?"

"Childbirth," I said with a slight smile.

"Oh," he said and almost dropped it before putting it on top of the entertainment cabinet.

"Looks good," I sighed. "I'm starving. Where's Mitch?"

"He left. Lester's downstairs. He'll be back tomorrow afternoon."

"Okay," I nodded.

"Do you need something else that he does?"

"No, I'm fine," I smiled.

"Then why did you ask?"

"I guess I've gotten used to having dinner with him. And he rubs my feet."

Ranger scowled, "I'll rub your feet."

"Well, not now," I said and picked up my fork. "This is from your mother's kitchen. She's sent me a bunch of things that aren't as spicy. You may not like it."

"It will be fine. With the way my insides have been juggled around I think it's a good idea for me to go light with seasonings anyway."

"That's probably a good idea," I agreed and took a bite of the casserole. "Oh my God, that woman is a magnificent cook. We could use a couple of Spanish dishes at Unit. I think I'll…" A look of horror came over my face, "oh my God. I completely forgot about Mike. What is he going to do?"

He shook his head, "he said when you were at the hospital that you kept asking him if he was okay. He's fine. He also said to tell you that he'd already started working on a second site that was going to be ready for opening day in a couple of weeks. He just needed to firm up the menu. I told him we'd give him a call."

I sighed in relief. "Did he say if he was going to rebuild at the other location?"

"I think he's planning on it. The new location is fairly close to our offices. It will be a lot easier to eat there for us now."

"Cool," I nodded. "I've always hated going into downtown Trenton proper."

"Most people do."

"Anyway, once I'm mobile again or you can go twenty minutes without throwing up we'll head down there…or he can come here."

"That would be good," I nodded.

Lester tapped on the bedroom door, "Steph…your Mom just called to make sure that you were eating and that Ranger was okay. Do you want me to tell her anything else?"

"Are you still on the phone with her," I blinked.

"Yep," he grinned. "She's really very nice."

"Uh-huh," I nodded. "No, that's good."

"I told her you were still throwing up everything in sight. She said to tell you not to drink milk or orange juice."

"Too little too late," I sighed as he exited the room.

"Why," Ranger frowned.

"Milk curdles, orange juice burns," I shrugged.

He got a weird look on his face and put his fork down. "We can watch that whenever you're ready."

"Okay, go ahead," I nodded and took a sip of my water. "I can handle it."

"You haven't been able to handle air for a few days now according to Mitch. How are you supposed to be able to handle childbirth after a casserole?"

"Well, there's only one way to find out," I said with a nod. "Put it on."

"All right," he said and shook his head and got up and slid the DVD into the player, "but make sure your trash can is ready."

"It's ready," I said in amusement.

A few moments later the video began to play. The calm impersonal voice started explaining about labor. 'Many new mothers to be have a lot of energy on the day of delivery. The new mother-to-be would be mostly likely to experience pressure in her belly. This could be false contractions commonly known as Braxton-Hicks contractions. If this is true labor the rate of occurrence of these contractions will increase as will the pressure to the belly.'

I shrugged, "that doesn't sound too bad."

Ranger just shook his head and crossed his arms over his chest.

'In the beginning the contractions will be mildly uncomfortable and the discomfort will increase dramatically as labor progresses. This is generally referred to as the first level of labor. When the contractions are approximately five minutes apart, most new mothers to be will need to contact their physician or midwife and alert them that they are ready to give birth and are going to the birthing center or to the hospital.'

"We're going to a hospital," Ranger said adamantly and his jaw contracted.

"You're preaching to the choir," I nodded.

"It is at about two to three minutes apart that most contractions increase to an uncomfortable rate. If the mother-to-be's water has not yet broken, at this time it is common for the water to be broken by your physician or midwife. When the water is broken, the rate of the contractions will increase as will the discomfort.'

"I don't know that I want to have my water broken," I whispered as the fluid came gushing out of the girl on the video.

"That's going to be inside of you," he blanched.

"It's the fluid the bean is growing in," I said blankly. "The bigger the bean gets, the more fluid will be necessary…to sort of cushion her space."

'Shortly after the water is broken, transitional labor begins. This is the point of labor when the baby begins to move down the birth canal. In most births this takes approximately twenty to thirty minutes and is the most intensely painful part of the birthing process.'

I blinked as the girl on the screen began to pant. Her eyes were wide and she was clearly in pain. She panted and relaxed after a few moments, but it was clear that she was in pain, "oh, my God."

"It…uh…she…it…," Ranger stuttered.

'When the baby's head presents itself at the end of the vagina for delivery, it is referred to as crowning. It is only a short time now before the baby is born. While many people assume that the head is the largest part of the baby to come from the body, it is in actual fact the shoulders. The baby leaves the vagina at an angle.'

I gasped and fell back as the baby emerged from the womb of the woman. She was red-faced and straining as the child came gushing forth after the shoulders cleared and immediately began to scream.

'After the birth of the baby, the baby is put at his mother's breast and encouraged to feed when breast feeding is going to be done. This will assist in the expulsion of the afterbirth or placenta.'

Ranger gagged as the squiggly mass resembling an organ of some type came out of the woman's body. "I can't do that," he whispered. "I can't be there when…"

"Listen here Ricardo Carlos Manoso," I rolled toward him with a growl, "you put this bean into my body and you will be there when she makes her big appearance." I poked his chest with my finger, "do you hear me?"

He nodded.

Okay, he was a little green. He could deal with it. I'm pretty sure I'd thrown up my spleen sometime in the last five days. I was in no mood for him to wuss out on me.

Lester tapped on the door as the mother on the screen and her new son bonded. "Hey…oh crap, I missed the movie," he sighed. "Was it as cool as they make it sound?"

I nodded toward Ranger.

"Dude, you're looking a little green."

"Shut the fuck up Santos. You'll be in my shoes soon enough."

"If only, if only," he grinned loading the tray with our dishes. "You didn't eat much Ranger."

"I'm not hungry."

"You did good Steph. Mitch will be pleased."

I grinned, "Did you weigh it?"

"You know I did," he grinned. "Hey, when you're done with the DVD, can I watch it?"

"Sure," I nodded. "We're done for now…have at it."

"You're the best," he grinned and ejected the DVD from the machine and hurried away whistling.

"He's demented," Ranger said sliding carefully out of the bed and heading for the bathroom.

"Yep," I nodded and watched him leave the room. I hoped he was better with diapers than he was with afterbirth or we were going to be in trouble.

Lester tapped on the door again, "you feeling like company?"

"Who's here?"

"Your brother-in-law," he smiled.

"Rafe," I raised a brow, "or Albert?"

"Right…it's Rafe," he nodded. "Can he come up? He was in London when you guys did the amusement park ride at Unit and he hasn't seen Ranger since your reception. He just wants to assure himself that you're both okay."

"Give us a few, and then send him up," I nodded.

"Okay," he agreed.

I tapped on the bathroom door, "Ranger…Rafe is here."

"Fuck," he said as he flung the door open.

I grinned, "Well, I'm sure he'll be at least that happy to see you. Mind if I pretty up before he comes up?"

"Sure," he stepped aside and let me into the bathroom.

I brushed my hair and teeth and went back into the bedroom. I glanced at Ranger and winced, "you need to have clean bandages and a clean tee shirt might be a good idea too."

"I can't do it."

"I can," I said and shook my head. "Okay, can you lift your arms?"

"Not much," he sighed.

"Well, do we cut this shirt off of you or what?"

"That's fine with me," he nodded.

I reached for my scissors and cut the shirt off of him. Really, it was sort of a fantasy of mine, but in my fantasies this always led to amazing sex and incredible catastrophic orgasms and I had a feeling that today…that just wasn't going to happen. I peeled the bandages off of him and sighed.

"What," he frowned.

"You're not supposed to look that good with stitches," I said sadly. "You look better with stitches than I look in perfect health." I bent over him to clean the wounds and put medicine on them.

"That's a matter of opinion," he whispered.

I looked up at him and smiled before reaching for clean bandages and taping them onto his chest. I strolled into the closet just as Lester tapped on the door and in walked Rafe looking almost as sexy as my husband and a little healthier.

"Oh crap bro, what kind of damage was done this time?"

"The usual glass, metal and internal injuries," he nodded.

"Hi Rafe," I said as I emerged from the closet with a soft loose tee shirt. I said and presented my cheek for his kiss before walking to the bed and carefully putting that shirt onto my husband.

"You're dressing him now," his mouth quirked in amusement.

"He's in a lot of pain," I reminded him as I smoothed the shirt down and ran my fingers through his hair to straighten what I had messed up. "Lester, where are Ranger's pain pills."

"Downstairs, I wasn't sure where he'd be sl… I'll get them," he blinked and hurried out of the room.

Ranger shifted up on the bed. "Well Rafe, how was London?"

"English," he said with a smile. "I'd ask how it's been here, but well…you're pretty banged up and I already talked to Pop."

Ranger groaned, "I'm betting he had a lot to say."

"Oh yea," he grinned. "When I report back to him, I'll be happy to tell him that you're at home with your wife."

"Hmm," Ranger sat back with a sigh of pain.

I frowned and pulled the covers up over him.

Lester hurried in with the bag of medicine. "He's supposed to take this one and this one," he put two pills into my hand and gave me a bottle of water.

"Thank you Lester," I said, "open up."

"I can do this," Ranger said quietly.

I just smiled.

He opened his mouth and I put the pills in and gave him the bottle of water.

"Good," I nodded. "Do you boys need to be alone to talk? I can go downstairs. I'm feeling pretty good right now. I can watch the DVD again with Lester."

Ranger groaned and shook his head.

"I think you need to stay up here with him," Lester said backing out of the room. "He may need your trash can."

"He had problems with the afterbirth," I said sadly and patted Ranger's chest reassuringly.

"I did not…," he stopped when he saw the challenge on my face. He sighed, "Fine…it was disgusting and I thought I was going to puke."

I patted his thigh with a smile. "In any case, I'll be back in a few minutes. I'm still hungry." I smiled and exited the room. As I closed the door I heard Rafe's voice.

"According to Pop you're supposed to be here working on fixing the marriage you fucked up," he said.

I paused in the hall and frowned.

"Is this really any of your business Rafe?"

"Family is my business. We've had two divorces in this family and…"

"Mine was annulled," Ranger bit out.

"And," Rafe continued apparently impatiently, "that's two too many according to Pop. Besides…we all really love Stephanie."

"I know. She's amazing," he sighed.

I smiled and continued down the stairs.

Lester was lounging on the sofa with a Corona and some pizza.

"Oh I see, you get the good stuff while I'm up there with bland Spanish food and I didn't even know that was possible," I flopped down on the sofa beside him.

He held his pizza out to me and I took a bite. "Are you going to torture him for a long time?"

"How long is a long time," I asked after swallowing my bite of pizza.

He raised a brow at me, "you're killing him."

"I don't want to kill him," I shrugged. "I just want to maim him a little bit. When he gets his shit together and learns how to treat me, he can go back to being terrifying bad ass Ranger, but for now…"

"It can't be safe for him to be out in public like this. If people know he's lost his edge…," he shook his head and took a bite of the pizza.

"He's not supposed to be putting himself in danger any more anyway. He's corporate Ranger now," I raised my brow back at him.

"Old habits die hard," he said quietly.

"That's why Robert and George were at the office a couple of weeks ago," I frowned thoughtfully. "They're hoping that he'll have a hard time breaking habits." I put my hand on my flat belly, "I won't try to change him for me. But I'm telling you right now Lester, he has to change for the bean. He will be in this baby's life more than he was in Julie's. He will be if I have to beat him into submission."

Lester grinned, "Good to know where you stand beautiful."

"Right," I shook my head.

"You know you're even more gorgeous pregnant, don't you? You've got a glow."

I got to my feet and headed for the kitchen, "you're a sick man Lester Santos."

He just laughed as I walked away.

Rafe came downstairs twenty minutes later and I was sitting at the bar in the kitchen eating some ice cream. Yea…I know, milk does curdle, but I had to take the risk. I was craving.

"Pickles and ice cream," he said settling his hand on the back of my neck and kissing my head.

"No pickles yet," I frowned. "But I might add some olives to it."

"That's disgusting," he laughed. "Well, I'll let you get on with that. Do me a favor Steph?"

"Sure," I nodded. "What do you need?"

"Go easy on my little brother," he said seriously.

It was all I could do not to laugh out loud when he called him his little brother. "Er…right. Tell me why I should go easy on him."

"Because when it comes to you, he's never been able to think straight," he said gently and kissed me on the head again before heading for the door. I frowned at his retreating back and got another bowl of ice cream and went back up stairs. Ranger was lying back on the bed staring off into space.

"Are you all right? Did you and Rafe have a good talk?"

"You didn't have to leave Steph," he said tiredly.

"I know. I just thought you may need some privacy."

"Thank you."

"Want some ice cream," I smiled.

"Won't that curdle," he frowned.

"If it comes back up," I nodded.

"What flavor," he raised a brow.

I grinned, "See…here's where I get you. Its half Vanilla bean and half chocolate peanut butter," I said waving a spoonful of vanilla at him.

"Are you eating the vanilla bean," he asked before letting me put the spoon in his mouth.

I blinked, "yea. I guess the bean likes vanilla bean."

He smiled, "it's a boy."

"It's a girl. Girls can like vanilla too."

"That's my baby," he said and ran his hand gently over my belly.

"It couldn't be anyone else's," I said seriously.

"I know," he met my eyes.

"Come on, eat this and we'll go to bed."

"I'm not hungry," he sighed.

There was a knock on the door.

"Come in," I called.

"Do you guys need anything? I expect he's about to go to sleep."

"Yea," I smiled and handed him my bowl. "Thank you Lester."

"You're welcome. I'll see you in the morning. If you need me before that, you know what to do."

I nodded.

"Sweet dreams," he smiled and exited the room.

"Where do I sleep," Ranger said tightly.

I smiled, "do you promise to behave?"

"Babe," he shook his head and gestured toward his wounded stomach.

"Then you can sleep here," I said and climbed up into the bed and settled in. I turned the light off and closed my eyes with a deep satisfying breath. I was home. He was home. The bean was safe. It was a good day.

His hand snaked over and took mine in his gently.

I swallowed back the tears and my fingers tightened on his for just a millisecond before loosening. I had hope. There was hope.


	9. Chapter 9

I woke up the next morning in the way I'd awakened every morning for the last several days. I was nauseous and it wasn't a good thing. I carefully reached for the crackers I kept by the bed being very careful not to move too much so I wouldn't lose control if I could avoid it. I finally got my stomach settled enough to get out of the bed and go to the bathroom. I'd probably throw up anyway once I got there, but at least I'd make it that far.

"Is it like that every morning," Ranger asked softly when I returned to the bedroom.

"Yep," I dropped back on the pillows. "Every morning is a delight. I wake up. I try to stave off the vomiting till I can make it to the toilet. I do my business. I brush my teeth and the cycle begins again until some point during the day when I don't feel like utter and complete shit. That's my life as it is right now. Thanks for asking."

He winced, "I'm really sorry."

"I wanted children," I sighed and shook my head slightly with closed eyes. "This is what God does to keep you from having too many of them I think."

He smiled and kissed his shoulder, "my mother had six."

"She cheated," I opened my eyes to meet his soft brown ones, "she had the last three at once."

"But the bean," he bit his lip as his hand slid lightly over my belly, "the bean is the only one in there…right?"

"Right," I nodded and a glimmer of doubt formed in my mind. "That's all I saw on the monitor. Celia would have told us if there was more than one, right?"

"Right," he nodded and swallowed. "She damn well better have."

I took a deep breath and changed the subject before full blown panic set in and I was throwing up all over the bed. "How do you feel this morning? You look like you have a little sparkle back."

"I do feel better," he admitted. "I know I'm still on bed rest, but I'm glad just not to feel like I was in surgery."

I smiled, "yea…I hate when that happens."

The monitor by the bed squawked. "I hear you. Are you up?"

I smiled, "No Lester. We're asleep. We're talking in our sleep."

"Well, listen in your sleep too. What do you want for breakfast?"

I groaned, "Toast."

"Just…bring us food," Ranger said quickly. "We'll each eat what we can."

"Done," he said and the squawking stopped.

"He'll bring me toast and you whatever," I sighed. "Listen, I'm going to take a quick shower while I'm feeling up to it. You eat while I'm in there. Do you need the bathroom first?"

"No, I'm good," he said watching me get up.

"Okay," I nodded and went into the bathroom.

When I exited the bathroom, Lester was sitting on the side of the bed giving Ranger a run down on his business. Tank was sending some faxes over according to him.

"Steph, Mike called. He says that he realizes that you're under the weather and it's unlikely that you'd want to leave Ranger alone so he wants to know if he can come by tonight and discuss the menu with you? He wants to complete the menu and get it to the printers as soon as possible."

"You know he could just go with the menu he already has," I said walking to the closet. "He doesn't have to change it."

"The things you said made sense," Lester smiled. "They made sense to all of us and not just to him. He wants to grow the business. You're giving him good advice."

"What do I know about running a restaurant," I sighed exiting the closet in sweats claiming I was Ranger's and a little tee shirt that said the same.

"Babe," Ranger sighed.

"What," I blinked and followed the direction of his gaze, "it's the hockey team. The coincidence is only that, a coincidence."

"Right," Lester shook his head. "Anyway, Mike wants to talk to you."

"That's fine," I agreed with a slight smile, "I just can't guarantee that I'll be able to stay in the room the entire time. I'll probably have to excuse myself and well…you know…"

He grinned, "I know. Mitch will be back at about one. He said if you want him to pick up some groceries on the way to give him a call. Mike's planning to be here around five or six. Mitch said you're usually in pretty good shape in late afternoon."

"Right," I nodded in bemusement.

"I'll leave the food. You should try to eat Steph," Lester said seriously.

"Tell you what Lester, when you get pregnant you can give me advice," I said with a raised brow.

He just shook his head and left the bedroom.

"He's just worried about you Stephanie."

"I know. But he doesn't know what it's like to toss up almost everything that enters your body. He can't understand."

"Okay," he nodded.

"What about you? You obviously can't take a shower. What do you need me to do?"

"Well, I'm going into the bathroom and take care of that myself, but I'll probably need you to replace bandages when I get out."

"Done," I nodded and picked up a piece of dry toast and nibbled on the corner. "You better hurry. There's no telling how long my stomach will stay settled and therefore how long I can replace your bandages without hurling on you."

"You say the sweetest things," he grimaced and headed for the bathroom.

I straightened the bed and made it up. Then I took my toast and went to stand at our bedroom window and look out. Spring was definitely coming to New Jersey. There were blossoms on many of our trees. I could now identify some fruit trees by the pretty flowers on them. The yacht that had been sitting at the dock on the day we'd toured the house was still anchored there. It had been part of the sale. I'd never even been on the boat. I wondered if Ranger had. I knew I wouldn't be on it anytime soon. My stomach definitely wasn't going to handle the pitch of a boat if it couldn't handle the comfort of our non moving mattress.

Eventually the entire slice of toast made it down me and I sat down on the window seat to tell the bean how much I appreciated it.

"That was a good baby," I said seriously. "If you don't let Mommy get a little nutrition in her some time, it's going to become very uncomfortable for you in there. All right, things every baby born to me needs to know…Trenton New Jersey is the suck zone. Things happen here that aren't our fault. You father is unmentionable and it's suspected that your mother is unmentionable, so it's likely that you'll be unmentionable. Things will happen that won't be your fault," I smiled and rubbed my belly lazily. "Okay number two…just because you're Hungarian, Italian and Cuban it doesn't mean that you have to grow up to be a sex fiend. I'm not going to tell you that sex is bad; if I do you'll be doing it as soon as you hit puberty. I'm just going to say that sex between two people who love each other is a wonderful thing and…"

"Stephanie, do not tell the bean about sex," Ranger groaned. "The bean isn't going to have sex."

"You don't want grandchildren," I raised a brow.

He glared at me.

"You can't have it both ways Ranger," I said smugly.

He cleared his throat, "you can have sex when you're forty."

"That's too late. I'm thirty and…"

"And you're probably too young. Dear God it's a wonder Frank didn't put a bullet in my brain before we got married. If he knew the things I've done to you he'd…" His voice trailed off as he went to the drawer and started rummaging. He muttered as he rummaged. I could hear bits of phrases. I heard things like "he could have cut my balls off" and "my daughter will be a virgin" and "I'll buy more guns". Really it was a very interesting conversation.

He let me put the bandages on him after he'd gotten into some underwear and some pants. Then I helped him into a loose shirt.

"Ranger…have you been on the yacht yet," I asked.

"No," he shook his head. "Cal checked it out though and he says it's sweet."

"Sweet," I grinned.

"Honey…Cal has an urban tongue," he shook his head.

"Right," I nodded. He called me honey. This was surely a good thing, right?

Lester came upstairs and helped me get Ranger down the stairs. Really all Lester did was walk down the stairs in front of him to catch him if he fell. Ranger's too macho to let anyone really help him up and down the stairs.

We took him into the office and sat him in the rolling chair so he could reach the fax machine that was spitting out papers and his computer. He was going to be busy and happy for a little while.

I went into my kitchen and was happily surprised to find it clean.

"You did a good job of cleaning the kitchen Lester."

"Thanks," he grinned. "Between the army and Marina, I think I have a handle on things."

"What time is it?"

"About ten," he said checking his watch.

"I'm feeling pretty good. I think I'm going to take Mitch up on that grocery stop."

"Cool," he said. "I'll grab a pen."

I went through the cabinets and called out items to Lester who put them on the list. I planned a few things to make for Mike to check out and I also planned on some dinner that I was pretty sure that Ranger and I could both eat that wouldn't leave either of us tossing our cookies later.

Lester disappeared to email the list to Mitch and left me alone in the kitchen. I rummaged through the other cabinets and found the candy thermometer hidden in my big stock pot in the bottom corner cabinet where those little used pans are kept out of the way.

I went straight to the office with the object in my hand.

"Ricardo Carlos Manoso," I raised a brow at him.

"Are you going to call me by my full name every time I'm in trouble," he said with a frown.

"Maybe," I frowned thoughtfully. "My mother does it. I suppose it's worth doing. I like to think of it as an early warning system that you're going to benefit from."

"You only said maybe," he reminded me.

"Yes I did. I don't want you to get too comfortable." I shook the candy thermometer at him, "did you hide this in the back bottom corner cabinet in a big pot?"

He frowned, "maybe. What were you doing in there?"

"I'm planning on doing a few recipes for Mike today. I needed my big stock pot."

"Hmm," he frowned keeping his eye on the thermometer.

"Why did you hide it?"

"Well…I'll be honest with you. It scares the crap out of me. I know what it's supposed to be used for, but with your Hungarian genes and your mother's keen use of food during sex, I figured it would be no time till you started checking the kitchen for kinky sex toys."

"Don't you think it would be a good idea to wait till you thought it may be possible that we'd ever have sex again before you hid it?"

"Well, I was afraid I'd forget and besides, it was before you know… You know," he said miserably.

"Don't hide it again. I need it for Christmas for divinity and peanut brittle and all kinds of things."

"Do we need those things," he frowned.

"I do," I glared at him. "Just because your temple can't handle a little sugar, it doesn't mean that mine won't."

He nodded, "yes ma'am."

I glared at him and leaned over him with one hand on either arm of his chair, "and if you ever call me ma'am again, I'll use this thermometer to create your worst nightmare."

"Right," he blinked, "Got it."

"Good," I straightened. "Do you have any preferences for lunch?"

"Nope, not hungry oddly," he blinked and turned back to the computer.

I smiled and walked away, "good."

When Mitch got there at one, Lester helped him carry the groceries into the house. Then Lester kissed me on the cheek and headed out with a grin. Mitch stayed in the kitchen and helped me make the cheesecakes.

"So how is it going with Captain Courageous in there?"

I snorted with laughter, "what do you mean?"

"I mean, are you making strides into fixing your marriage or are you both just puttering along hoping things will fix themselves?"

"Ouch," I winced, "who made you our marriage counselor."

"Well, I don't see anybody making any appointments for…"

"I hear you Mitch. I just think we ought to give him a little time to heal from nearly dying before we start demanding he make appointments for head shrinking."

"Steph," he reached for my hand and met my eyes with his serious silver gaze, "you deserve the whole thing."

"I know," I said softly. "But I think I finally realized he's human."

He grinned, "It's about time."

"Yea," I smiled, "it is. But as soon as he's off bed rest I'll tell him that it has to be done for this to work. But Mitch…he already offered."

"Offered what," Ranger asked entering the kitchen.

"Offered ideas on which recipes to do for Mike," I stammered.

"Steph…you're a bad liar," Ranger said kissing my cheek. "What did I offer to do?"

"Get therapy," Mitch said meeting Ranger's dark eyes with his silver ones.

Ranger's eyes stayed on Mitch's for a few moments before moving to mine, "yes, I did and I will as soon as the doctor says I can get out of the house."

"The ivory tower isn't as appealing as you thought it was, is it," I smiled up at him.

"Not so much," he reached behind me for a bottle of water from the refrigerator. "But, Mitch has a point. We should check to see if Dr. Addison will be willing to see me when I'm able and if he'll see us for marriage counseling and if not if he can recommend someone preferably in his building so we can do one after the other or something like that."

"I can call him," I said biting my lip.

"I'll do it," he said and tugged my lip from between my teeth. "I said I would and I meant it. I'll do whatever it takes." He leaned down to kiss me lightly. "Whatever it takes," he said softly resting his head against mine for a moment before leaving the kitchen.

I took a deep breath, "happy Mitch?"

"Yes and no," he said and put the cheesecakes into the refrigerator.

"Yes and no," I laughed.

"Yes because he's pulling his head out of his ass and that will make you happy," he turned to lean toward me with his hands on the counter, "and no because if he keeps it up…I don't get the girl."

I shook my head, "you're going to get a great girl Mitch. You're a great guy."

"Yea," he smiled and tapped my nose lightly with his fingertip, "but this is the one I wanted."

"Thank you. You have no idea how flattered I am."

He leaned back, "what's next heartbreaker."

I laughed, "Well, there are no Spanish dishes on the menu. I thought we'd try a little something."

"What do you want to try," he leaned over the counter again with interest.

"It's a vegetarian version of Ranger's breakfast burrito."

"Cool, let's do this," he nodded.

"This is a new recipe. We'll be creating it today."

It took us four tries to get the right recipe, but once we did, it was good.

"We could adapt it more like Ranger makes it if he ever adds breakfast or brunch too," Mitch said taking another bite of the burrito.

"What smells so good," Ranger asked coming into the kitchen.

"We've been working on some recipes," I grinned and offered him a fork full of burrito with a little salsa and sour cream on it.

"Oh my God," he groaned. "That is so good. What is it?"

"That's a vegetarian variation of your breakfast burrito tweaked for the lunch and dinner crowd. What do we serve with it," I frowned. "I mean we can't just serve it like this."

"It's got everything in it," Mitch frowned thoughtfully cutting another bite. "Since we're hitting the vegetarians maybe we should go with a fruit salad."

"Good idea," I nodded. "I think Mike's already got fruit salad on his menu, so this is good to go."

Ranger took my fork and took another bite of the burrito, "can this be my lunch?"

"Of course," I smiled.

He took the plate and disappeared.

I smiled after his back, "well, I'd say our burrito is a hit."

"I would have to agree," Mitch said polishing off the last of his.

I turned around and grabbed the menu Mike had faxed me and opened it on the counter. "Okay, where else is he missing the boat?"

Mitch and I pored over the menu for hours. We also put some dinner in the crock pot so we'd have something for later. I was feeling pretty good and hadn't been sick since morning. Maybe I was getting a little cocky, but I was beginning to think I had the all day morning sickness licked and would now be concentrating only on the early onset.

We discussed the side items at length. We both felt that it was an area that the menu was lacking that could help with business down the road. We were going to research that next. Then we went back to the dessert. The menu currently included apple pie, hot fudge sundaes, cookies and a raspberry tart.

"It needs more chocolate," I said thoughtfully. "I mean it's only got the sundae. If we add cheesecake and the lemon cake, it will be better, but it won't have enough chocolate. We need a chocolate something to die for."

"Not literally right," Mike grinned as he entered the kitchen in front of Ranger.

I laughed and hugged him tight, "no, not literally."

"Ranger says you've been hard at work," he said dropping his arm around Mitch's shoulders. "He says you've been cranking out some good stuff."

"We have," I nodded. "And we've got a couple of things for you to taste. We've got the two cheesecakes prepared and we've got a vegetarian burrito that we think can reach two audiences. It's spicy and it's vegetarian."

"Let's see," Mike sat on the bar stool.

Mitch and I got to work and within minutes had the burrito ready and in front of Mike.

"God this takes good," Mike moaned. "And it's good for me?"

"Yep," Mitch nodded.

"It's fantastic," Ranger said dropping his arm around me proudly.

"We think you can serve the fruit salad you already have on the menu with it and you should be good to go," I nodded.

"Hmm," he said as he chewed. He swallowed, "you wrote down the recipe?"

"Of course," I handed him the paper. "You can adapt it pretty easily for breakfast or brunch later too. It's pretty versatile."

"I agree," he nodded. "Okay, what about those cheesecakes?"

Mitch pulled the cheesecake out of the fridge and we tried those and he agreed that they were definitely on the menu. Then we spent more than an hour discussing what other side dishes we could add as well as the decadent chocolate thing I felt the menu still needed.

After that I served dinner at the breakfast table and we all four sat down to eat it.

"So have you heard anything about the explosion yet," Ranger asked Mitch.

"It was a bomb. It was in the men's room in the front of the restaurant which is why it affected you guys more than it affected the three of us out back. We were in the outside freezer at the time. If we'd been inside the restaurant, we'd be dead."

I swallowed. "Do they have any suspects?"

"Nobody mentioned any," Mike shook his head. "Can we get this pot roast on the menu?"

I grinned, "Sure you can."

"Who have you pissed off? Is there somebody's husband after you," Mitch asked.

"Dude, the only woman I've flirted with lately is Stephanie. I've been working my ass off. As long as Ranger didn't do it, I should be okay."

"Wasn't me," Ranger assured him.

"There you have it," Mike frowned. "They made sure it was after hours. The restaurant is usually empty at that time of night. Maybe it wasn't a bomb intended for a person but instead for the business itself."

"Have you had any threats or anything?"

"No," Mike shook his head. He sighed, "The only thing wrong with the theory is that the bomb was a good one. Whoever built it knew what it would do and it wasn't over done. It was just the right size for the building to be destroyed."

"Interesting," I said with a frown.

"Yea," Ranger nodded. "So, you need to check your records…if there are any left and find out who had a beef with you purchasing the location."

"Good idea," Mitch nodded. "You might want to check on your competition as well."

Mike sat back, "the police think it was someone with an agenda, but they don't know what the agenda is. They're looking into my financials."

"That sucks," I bit my lip.

"Yea, but I have nothing to hide so it's all good. The new restaurant is going to open on schedule. I just need to nail down the menu."

"We're working on it," I assured him. "Give me a couple of days."

"I can give you more time than that," he said with a grin. "Especially now that I've tasted your cooking."

I laughed, "I'm glad you like it."

"When you guys come by to install the security systems maybe we should consider upgrading from my previous package," Mike sighed. "My insurance company is having fits over this."

"I bet," Ranger nodded. "Yea, we'll upgrade you. You need something."

"Yea," he nodded. "I do appreciate your help Stephanie. I talked to a couple of my servers and they agree totally with your assessment that the menu is not attractive to women."

"Well, I like food," I shrugged.

"She does," Ranger nodded. "You should believe her."

"I do," he laughed. "I appreciate dinner, but I have to get back to work. I'm going to turn these recipes over to my chefs to practice with. We'll put them in the menu program. We'll have to come up with some clever names, but I can handle that one."

"Good," I smiled and got to my feet. The men got up and we all walked Mike to the door. "Thank you for coming by. I hope you're really happy about the recipes because I'm having fun with it."

"I am," he assured me and hugged me. "I promise you. If you're ten percent close to right, this is a good thing."

"She'll do better than that," Ranger assured him.

"You have a lot of confidence in her," Mike said assessing him.

"She inspires it and she never disappoints," he said seriously.

"Maybe you should remember that all the time," Mike said with a raised brow and walked out the door.

"What he said," Mitch said heading for the kitchen.

I looked up at Ranger.

"I don't disagree," he finally said pushing curls from my forehead. "I was an ass."

"Yep," I nodded.

"I'll do better."

"I really hope so Ranger," I said with a slight sigh.


	10. Chapter 10

The next morning I was up before Ranger and showered and dressed. I'd had a few moments of morning sickness that didn't even lead to that inevitable trip to put my head in the toilet so I was feeling pretty good about things. You could even say I was feeling cocky. I went downstairs and found Mitch was at the table in the breakfast room drinking coffee and reading the paper.

"Good morning Mitch," I smiled happily and poured myself a cup of coffee.

"Oh my God," he blinked at me. "You're up and perky. Has the morning sickness ended?"

"I don't think so," I smiled. "I think it's just easing off. I feel pretty good today. I'll even make breakfast. How do you feel about an omelet?"

"Ham and cheese," he smiled.

"I can do ham and cheese," I nodded. "Do you trust me to doctor it?"

"Of course," he nodded.

"How do you feel about mushrooms?"

"Go for it," he grinned and returned to his paper.

I hummed as I made breakfast including hash brown potatoes, sliced cantaloupe and the omelets. Ranger walked into the kitchen just as I finished the second omelet. "You're just in time," I smiled and met his quick soft kiss. "Have a seat and I'll fix your plate."

"You made breakfast," he blinked at me in surprise as he poured a cup of coffee.

"I did," I nodded. "I'm feeling pretty good this morning."

"I can see that," he went to sit across from Mitch. "Good-morning Mitch," he said reaching for the front page on the table.

"Morning Ric," he said absently. He lowered the paper and took another bite of the omelet. "Read the article about the downtown district refurbishment on page three. I'm wondering if that could have had anything to do with Mike's issue."

"Why do you say that," Ranger frowned.

"Because the article last week was about Unit," Mitch said seriously. "I think it might do us some good to hit the archives."

"It might be online at the Trentonian," I said putting Ranger's plate on the table in front of him. "They keep that stuff there."

"You're a genius," Mitch grinned at me. "I'll check it after breakfast. This omelet is great. You can doctor food for me anytime."

"Thanks," I beamed and went back to check on my own omelet. I joined the men at the table a few minutes later. "So, what's on the agenda today? Are we still here at home or do we have things to do?"

"Ranger has a doctor's appointment at ten," Mitch said. "They want to check his stitches and make sure he's healing okay. Then I promised Tank we'd come by and get Ranger to sign off on some stuff. They were going to bring it here, but since we're going to be out…" He smiled, "I think they just want to see you both and make sure you're alive and well."

"Then we'll do that."

"What do they need me to sign off on," Ranger frowned.

"Decorating stuff for the new building," Mitch shrugged.

"I'll bow to Stephanie on that one," Ranger said. "She's done everything here and it's perfect. I think I'll just let her continue on."

"Thank you," I nodded. "That could be fun."

"Oh and Mike called this morning. He wants us to meet him for dinner or lunch somewhere."

"How about Pinos," I suggested.

"Babe," Ranger sighed.

"I need pizza Ranger."

"Ask him if Pinos is okay for dinner," Ranger smiled and shook his head.

"I already did ask about Pinos," Mitch grinned. "She was salivating yesterday when I mentioned it. I'll make sure dinner is good."

Ranger grinned, "I bet. If she looked at me the way she looked at pizza..."

I raised a brow, "you really don't want to go there."

He laughed, "never mind…I'm better off."

Mitch shook his head and took his plate over and rinsed it before putting it into the dishwasher. "Thank you for breakfast Steph," he said kissing my head. "I'm going to check that idea online."

"Okay," I nodded.

Ranger watched him walk away and turned back to me and both brows went up. Maybe his single arch was broken.

"What," I blinked.

"You two are getting awfully chummy," he said quietly.

"He's a good guy," I smiled.

"Do I need to worry?"

I shook my head and rolled my eyes. "You've never had to worry. All you ever had to do was stake a claim."

"Good to know," he said and leaned over to kiss me.

"Hmmm…," I sighed against his mouth.

"What," he smiled back.

"Nothing," I sighed. The truth was now that my morning sickness was abating I was starting to feel that itch. You know the one I mean. The one where I look at Ranger like he's tastier than pizza and then… Well, I was feeling it. I think he knew it. He usually does. That damn ESP was hard at work. I could feel it.

"Okay," he smiled and sipped his coffee, "if you say so."

Hmmm, I wasn't sure if I liked this one at all. Since when has he agreed with me so easily? I was suspicious. Okay, I am usually suspicious, but now I'm even more suspicious.

Mitch came back into the kitchen with a printout of the article, "here it is. And I'm even in the picture with Mike." He handed the paper to Ranger.

Ranger skimmed the column, "well, there's nothing in the article that suggests anything. It says he's ex-Army and he was a Ranger. It says the place is frequented by the Military. It doesn't really disclose anything bad."

"I didn't see anything," Mitch agreed.

"Maybe it's because he's ex-military," I said before shoving the last bite of omelet into my mouth.

Both of the men turned to me curiously.

"Why would you say that," Ranger asked.

"Well, you guys are kind of badasses," I said after I swallowed. "I'm sure you've all pissed people off."

"Mike's been out for a long time," Mitch said seriously.

"Well, some memories linger," I shrugged and got up and took empty plates to the kitchen.

The two men looked at each other thoughtfully.

Great, I thought, there's another man who can do that silent communication shit with my husband that I'm not privy to.

After breakfast cleanup and Ranger's bandage change, we loaded into the SUV and headed for the doctor's office to have Ranger checked out. Dr. 'Funny Bone' Riley was waiting for us cheerfully.

"I've cleared some time for you," he said with a big grin. "Mr. Manoso, you know the drill. Go on and change into the gown."

"Is it necessary," Ranger sighed.

"Who's the doctor here," he grinned. "Look, there on the wall it says Bill Riley MD. I don't see your name on the wall, do you?"

Ranger shook his head and went behind the curtain to change.

"And how are you doing young lady," he beamed at me. "Word on the floor has it that we're going to see one more Manoso visiting us soon."

I blinked, "well, er…hopefully just for regular check-ups."

"Of course," he nodded.

Ranger emerged from behind the curtain and got up on the table obediently.

"Shall I wait outside," I asked.

"You may as well stay since you're going to be taking care of him," he smiled. "I don't want there to be any misunderstandings about how his care should be."

I grinned and raised a brow at Ranger who shook his head mournfully.

Minutes later he raised his head, "the wounds are healing nicely. We're going to go ahead and schedule an MRI for next Tuesday just to have a look on the inside and make sure everything is okay. But you're young and in good health so it shouldn't be a problem."

"Good," I said with a smile and felt my body sag in relief.

"Now young man," he met Ranger's eyes solemnly, "your wife is pregnant and the two of you can't continue to get into these fixes. If you need to lay low till the baby is born, then do that. But you honestly need to stay out of the emergency room for at least another nine months."

Ranger nodded, "I couldn't agree with you more."

"Good, then follow my instructions," he smiled.

"I'll do my best."

"He can't help it," I sighed. "We're in the suck zone."

"The suck zone," the doctor said in amusement. "What is the suck zone?"

"You know," I shrugged. "It's one of those places in the universe that chaos just naturally occurs."

He studied me thoughtfully, "normally I'd argue with you, but I've been in Trenton for almost two months now and I'd have to say…you could be on to something here. Well," he straightened, "just do your best."

"We will," I assured him.

"Now…the next time I see you will be at a benefit or at the birth of your child. I understand that Celia Jones is going to deliver your baby?"

"Probably not," I said sadly. "Unfortunately Celia is Ranger's sister, so…"

"Ah," he nodded. "Then someone else in her practice should be more than qualified to handle the situation."

"I hope so," I sighed. "I'll see her next week and she'll have to refer me then."

"I wish you both all the best and I'll see you next Wednesday morning and we'll take one more look see at your wounds and go over the results for the MRI. At this time I don't anticipate any problems, but we don't want to risk anything."

"Thank you Dr. Riley," I smiled.

"You know," he paused at the door as he was leaving, "I like it better when you call me Dr. Funny Bone."

I laughed as he exited.

Ranger got dressed and we headed over to Rangeman. Not everyone there knew that I was pregnant yet…I didn't think.

When we walked in we couldn't find anyone. We finally ran into Gabe in the hall and he motioned toward the conference room. When we opened the door, they all yelled surprise.

Word was out that we were pregnant.

"This isn't a baby shower," Natalie said hugging me.

"No way girl," Lula grinned hugging me tight. "We just thought we'd let you guys both know how happy we were about this and to give you a few things to get ready for this."

"Uh-oh," I blinked.

We had cake and punch and little finger sandwiches provided by Ella. We mingled for a while and I kept an eye on Ranger to make sure he didn't get too tired. The moment I saw him starting to sag I went straight to him and dragged him down to a chair and sat gently on his lap.

"You're tired," I whispered in his ear. "We need to go."

"No," he smiled and whispered back, "I'm fine. I'll just sit. You stay right here."

I shook my head with a smile, but I stayed on his lap carefully avoiding his wounds.

"So we hear that pregnancy has been a bear," Tank grinned. "Do you care to elaborate?"

"Who said it was a bear," I laughed.

"Lester," he laughed.

"Lester saw nothing," I laughed. "If you want to know how bad it's really been, you should ask Mitch. He bore the unfortunate brunt of my early onset morning sickness. I really feel bad for him. I owe him big time."

"You were sick a lot," Lula said wide-eyed.

"Want to field that one Mitch," I grinned.

Mitch shrugged, "she was sick if she was awake. She threw up everything she ate and a lot of things she didn't. It wasn't pretty."

"Thanks," I said with a sigh.

"Sorry Stephanie, but it was brutal," he grinned.

"Try being the one doing the throwing up," I said with a smile.

"When I came home, she barely looked at me," Ranger said sadly. "I believe she threatened me. She said I had done that to her and I needed to back off."

The room was filled with laughter.

"Is it better now," Woody asked.

"It is better now," Ranger nodded. "She only threw up once yesterday and she didn't throw up at all today. I have a feeling that she's a natural mommy."

"I know I'm jealous," Padma complained.

"So what else do I have to look forward to," I asked her with a laugh.

"Well swollen feet and legs, boobs the size of Texas, constipation, the inability to tie your shoes, exhaustion, and of course…hormones."

"Hormones," I blinked.

"I cry or laugh at the drop of the hat."

"Oh honey, it will be like you're living with my mother," I teased Ranger.

His eyes darkened slightly at my use of the endearment. "I quite like your mother," he reminded me.

"You're treading on dangerous ground."

"She left out the good stuff," Gabe grinned.

"Like what," Ranger asked with a smile.

"Well, like she's so cuddly now. She loves to cuddle. Her hormones don't just include her moods if you know what I mean. I'm exhausted too," he grinned.

Padma gasped and hit his arm before laughing with everyone else in the room.

"That's something to look forward to but I may not survive it. Tank, remind me to get extra life insurance."

"Ranger," I groaned.

"Sorry," he grinned at me.

"But the best part," Gabe said and his eyes softened, "is getting to feel your child move. Sometimes when we get the ultrasound he moves, but when we're in bed at night I put my hand on her belly and he moves around a lot. When I talk to him, he moves. It's like he can hear me. It's amazing." The room had grown silent with his words.

"Wow," I blinked.

"Wait," Natalie grinned, "you're having a boy?"

"We're having a boy," he laughed.

Everyone's attention shifted to Padma and Gabe. That left Ranger and I a few moments of just us in that sea of people.

"The bean is going to move," he said wide-eyed.

"Yes," I smiled. "Not for a while though. All the books say it's around sixteen weeks and I'm not quite at four."

He sighed and rubbed my belly lightly, "I want to talk to the bean. Can I read to her?"

I grinned. "You said her."

He groaned, "Well, that's just because you do. Can I read to the bean?

"I think that's a great idea," I sighed happily.

"We need to buy some children's books."

"As soon as we're mobile again, we'll hit the bookstores."

"Screw that, we'll go online," he shook his head.

"Oh yea," I sighed. "Yet another reason to never go to the mall."

He laughed and hugged me to him carefully. "We'll go back to the mall. I promise."

"Good…I'm going to need some retail therapy with all that's going on."

After the little get together that included a rocking chair, all kinds of baby books and children's books, saving us a visit to , Ranger pulled me to his office where the samples were all laid out along with the basic blue print of the building. Tank followed behind us and grabbed his notepad.

"Well, does anything jump out at you," Ranger asked.

"Do you mind if I ask you both some questions first?"

"Go ahead," Tank said relaxing in one of the chairs by Ranger's desk.

"When you visualize the place, do you picture a sterile office environment or someplace inviting? I mean do you think the client areas are the only ones to be comforting or do you consider the other areas to be equally important?"

"No sterile environment," Ranger shook his head. He looked around with a sigh. "I mean I like this place, but it doesn't feel like it's us anymore."

"No, it doesn't," Tank laughed. "We're all changing. Dude…you're having a baby. Did you ever think that would happen?"

"I never even dreamed it was a possibility," he admitted. "In any case, I think we'll go with warmer. As our lives change our wives and children will visit us here as well. I'd like them to be comfortable here."

"Me too," Tank nodded.

"That would be nice. Do you have some place dedicated to a children's area?"

"I didn't think of that," Ranger sighed. "When we originally planned this building, we didn't even…"

"It was unbelievable," Tank laughed.

"How about now," I asked.

"This extra conference room," Ranger pointed. "I never thought we'd really need it. We'll designate that space."

"Consider adding a couple of walls and a bathroom then," I suggested. "That way they won't have to leave that area and we can put babies and small children down for naps there. I expect you'll have some sick kids in here sometimes too, so you may as well be prepared for that too."

"Oh man," Ranger sighed. "Okay…Tank can you handle that?"

"I got it," he nodded.

"But for the rest of the house, warm but not over done," Ranger said seriously.

"I like your house," Tank admitted. "I mean once you got stuff in it, it has nice clean lines and no clutter, but it's warm."

I nodded, "Ranger?"

"I agree with him. We spend a lot of time here. There is no point in making it look like your standard Trenton office building."

"Okay," I nodded. I pointed to floor coverings and window coverings and wall coverings. I picked out furniture and colors and textures. I selected appliances for the apartments and paused. "What if I go see Natalie's friend, Gaby, for the other furniture?"

"I didn't think of that," Ranger said thoughtfully. "We got a great deal. I tell you what; hold off on all the furniture Tank. Let's check with that guy first. I think we can do amazing things with the office."

Tank nodded, "I'll get these things to the builder so he can order and I'll trust you two to take care of the other. You know the frame is up and they're putting on the exterior now."

"I know," Ranger nodded. "Mitch went by and took some pictures for me. It looks good."

"Lula's keeping an eye on it," Tank grinned and shook his head. "She says she has to protect her investment."

"Good for her," I laughed.

We sat around just discussing stuff for a while. We even touched on the explosion and Mike's issues. The two men figured it might be someone who Mike had refused to pay protection money to. They would check that out.

We killed a little more time till it was time to go meet Mike at Pinos.

Pinos is a cop place. There are almost always cops there. Tonight was no exception. When we walked into the restaurant I saw Terri and Isabella immediately at a table in the back.

"I'll find you later," I said with a smile and went to her table.

"Fancy meeting you here," Terri grinned.

"Wow, she's grown a mile," I sighed. "She's so pretty. She's even prettier awake than she is asleep."

"She's pretty great," she agreed and looked at her daughter adoringly. "So Pino was starting to worry about you. He says you haven't been in for a while."

"Yea, well, Ranger was in the hospital and I haven't been…can you keep a secret Terri?"

"Sure," she nodded.

"I'm pregnant," I beamed.

"Oh that's great," she laughed. "How far are you?"

"Almost four weeks," I sighed.

"Have you had any morning sickness yet?"

"Oh yea," I sighed. "But if I get one of these," I stroked the baby's head, "in the end it will be so worth it."

"It is," she nodded. "I promise."

I sighed, "I guess I better get back to my husband before he sends out a search party." I got to my feet. "Things are better…right?"

"Much better," she assured me. "Thanks."

"Hey…no problem," I shrugged. "You and Isabella deserve everything."

"Thanks," she smiled. "So do you."

I got up and headed toward Ranger and almost ran into Joe on the way. "Oh hey, I was just saying hi to your wife and daughter."

"I saw that. I better get to them before they eat all the pizza," he grinned and continued past me.

Yea, that's the way it's supposed to work. We ran into each other and were polite and even friendly, but we each had our own family as our priority. We were finally getting there.

I scanned the room and found Ranger in the corner and went to the booth and sank down beside him. "Did you order yet?"

"Yea," he nodded. "Don't worry, I didn't order you a salad. I got what you wanted."

"Thank you," I smiled.

"Isabella has really grown," he said softly.

"I know," I sighed. "She's almost four months old now."

"Wow," he sighed.

"You realize that Padma is almost six months pregnant," I sighed. "She just has another three months of this."

"We need to enjoy every minute of it," he said seriously.

"We will," I assured him, "except for the vomiting and all that other stuff that Padma mentioned.

"Yea, that stuff," he grimaced. "But the stuff Gabe mentioned…bring it on."

I laughed as Mike and Mitch sat down across from us.

"Steph, my chef's are in love with you and they haven't even met you. They devoured the cheesecake you sent with me and they've made quite a few practice ones since. I'm not sure if they're really practicing or just in love with the food."

I laughed.

Ranger shook his head, "it's the food…trust me, it's the food."

Mike nodded, "oh…I heard from the police today. My financials are clean. They've checked with the local snitches and nobody had a beef with me. As far as they can tell there's no reason for anyone to have bombed the restaurant at all. They say it just doesn't make sense."

My lips pursed thoughtfully, "well, then if it's not because of anything you've done directly here in Trenton…"

"Steph, I told you Mike got out a long time ago," Ranger said seriously.

"I know," I nodded. "But like I told you, bad feelings linger."

He sighed.

Mike frowned, "I'll be honest with you Steph. I don't know how that could be. Now if you told me that someone was after Ranger for his past misdeeds, I could see my way clear. I mean almost everyone in our unit had something going on and that includes our boy Mitch here," he patted his back. "But I'm telling you, I was a choir boy in comparison."

"That doesn't really let you off the hook," I teased. "I am Catholic. I have known a large number of choir boys."

He grinned, "Mama Manoso must love you."

"You said it," Ranger nodded and leaned back as the pizza was placed on the table between us.

Okay, after that they kept talking but it was mostly white noise to me. Ranger has a zone when he drives. I have a zone when pizza is involved. Sue me.

The next thing I knew, I was pushing back from the table with my hand on my belly.

"What's wrong," Ranger frowned.

"I'm full," I said and I think I whimpered.

"But…you only had two pieces," he said wide-eyed.

A tear slid down my face, "I'm full."

He put his arm around me. "We'll get another one to go. You can eat it at home when you feel like it."

"Really," I whispered.

"Really," he kissed my forehead.

"I love you," I sighed happily.

He just grinned. What do you expect? He hasn't been to therapy yet.

Half an hour later we were in the truck to return Mike to his condo. One of his employees had dropped him off at Pinos after Mitch promised him a ride home since his jeep was in the shop.

I was leaning lightly against Ranger feeling content and more than just a little sleepy when all hell broke loose. Mitch suddenly accelerated and I heard the all too familiar pop of gunfire.

"Fuck," I groaned and dived to the floor with my pizza box and Ranger on top of me.


	11. Chapter 11

Mitch was driving like a madman and I was on the floorboard of the SUV praying that I wouldn't lose my dinner. I'd waited for a long time for that pizza. It needed to stay in my belly. Even more important than that, the baby needed to stay in there safe as well. Ranger's arms were around me protectively and his big body protected me completely from anything that might happen. All Rangeman vehicles have bullet proof glass these days, but he wasn't taking any chances with me or with the bean.

Minutes later, the SUV skid to a stop and I heard shouting and the squeal of tires as I assume our assailant fled.

"Steph…are you okay? How's the bean," Ranger whispered.

"We're fine," I sighed. "The pizza may be crushed though."

He laughed, "Mike…Mitch, are you guys okay?"

"We're good," Mitch frowned. "You two need to come up and put your hands up."

"Oh shit," I grunted. "Are you okay Ranger?"

"Fine," he said getting off me and raising up. "We're in the parking lot of TPD?"

"It seemed the safest place," Mitch said smiling at the cops.

"It doesn't feel safe right now," Mike said between gritted teeth.

"It will once they see Stephanie," Mitch said as the doors were jerked open and weapons were leveled on us.

"Shit Steph," Eddie Gazzara grunted.

"Hey Eddie," I smiled tremulously. "How are Shirley and the kids?"

"You're kidding right," he shook his head.

"Let me guess," Big Dog said leaning into the SUV. "You didn't see anything?"

"No…Ranger and I were on the floor of the backseat."

"You got a ride home," he asked.

"Mitch is our ride home," I sighed. "We just left Pinos. We were going to drop Mike at his place and pow," I shrugged.

"You okay Steph," Carl Costanza stuck his head in the SUV.

"Yea," I sighed.

"How did you get in trouble so fast? You just left Pinos."

"I know," I sighed. "We were taking Mike home."

"Mike Stone," Carl turned to look in the front seat. "Shit Stone, I thought we couldn't find anything on you."

"Maybe you better look again," Mitch suggested.

"Maybe so," Carl sighed. "Come on inside, let's get some statements. We're going to have to impound the truck for evidence. Sign off on it and you'll get it back a lot faster. We can take you home."

"We'll call someone," Ranger sighed. "Will this take long? Stephanie needs her rest."

"Oh…sure," Carl frowned. "Why does Stephanie need her rest?"

"Oh you know," Ranger said and shrugged.

Carl studied me and his eyes went down to Ranger's hand protective on my belly. "Shit…you're pregnant. Morrelli doesn't know, does he?"

"Why should he," I said raising my chin. "It's not his baby."

"Right," Carl stepped back.

Eddie came back around, "the paramedics are on their way. Ranger needs to be checked out. After last week, we don't want to take any chances."

"Stephanie needs to be checked as well," Carl said calmly. "Neither of you saw anything?"

"Nothing," Ranger shook his head.

"Go on to the hospital. If we have any questions, we know where to find you."

"I'll get Tank to bring me another vehicle and I'll pick you up there," Mitch assured us.

Ranger nodded, "tell Tank to sign off on the permissions and make sure Mike gets home safely and that someone is posted there at all times."

"You got it," Mitch turned back to the police officer as the ambulance pulled into the parking lot.

"Do we really have to do this," I sighed.

"We can't take any chances."

"Dr. Funny Bone is not going to be happy."

"We were taking his advice. We were having pizza with friends," he said as the EMT approached us.

"Somehow, I doubt he'll see it that way."

Fortunately for us, Dr. Riley wasn't on call that night so we had Dr. Friedman. He smiled when he saw us, but after he peeked into our charts he didn't smile quite as widely. He sent Ranger for X-Rays and ordered an Ultrasound machine for me.

Ranger had just returned from his X-Rays when the tech arrived with the ultrasound machine and greased me up.

"Do you have any pain," the tech asked.

"No," I shook my head.

"Okay, let's get a look then." He moved the thing around on my belly after the liberal application of the cold gel. His expression didn't change at any time while he was looking and I even got a look at the bean and so did Ranger. "I'll share these with your doctor and he'll let you know."

"Okay," I nodded.

"But you didn't see anything wrong," Ranger asked clutching my hand.

"I'm not allowed to say. But," he smiled, "don't worry."

Ranger nodded.

"It's okay," I said quietly. "The bean is fine."

"The bean better be fine," he said with a scowl. "But I tell you this much, when I get my hands on whoever is responsible for this…they won't be fine."

"Ranger," I said gently and touched his chin, "you're going to be a father again. This time you're going to be a father all the way through. You can't go around beating the shit out of everyone on the planet. It's not a good idea to teach our child that violence is the answer."

He sighed, "I know. You're right. I'll work on it in therapy. Oh yea, I forgot to tell you, I have an appointment with Dr. Addison tomorrow. He says he's really looking forward to meeting me."

"I bet," I snorted.

"What do you mean by that?"

"He's heard me talking about you for how long now? You know he wants to get a look at you."

"Great," he sighed. "Anyway…I'm going."

"Thank you," I nodded.

"You're welcome," he smiled slightly.

Dr. Friedman came through a few moments later and he was smiling. "All right, we've got good news all around. You're both in good shape considering all that you've been through. I see a notation in your charts that Dr. Riley has requested that you both take it easy and stay out of trouble." He laughed, "He's new here, but he should know better."

"We were trying," I said defensively.

"We were at Pinos having dinner with friends," Ranger sighed. "We weren't up to anything. We weren't searching for a madman. We just were."

He grinned and leaned forward to say softly, "look, as soon as he's been here for a while he'll realize that in Trenton…anything is possible." He straightened. "Try to keep out of trouble."

"We'll try," I sighed.

"Yea," Ranger frowned.

"You know the drill from here," he saluted and left us.

I sat up and eased my legs off the side of the bed. "Let's go check out of here."

"We have to wait for Mitch. There's no telling how long he'll be," he said with a sigh.

"Do we really have to wait for him? Can't we take a cab or something?"

"Babe," he shook his head.

"This is not my idea of a good time Ranger," I sighed.

He opened his phone, "status?" He paused, "see you in ten." He turned to me, "he'll be here in ten minutes. Is that okay?"

"That's fine, let's check out."

Mitch arrived just as we were walking out of the emergency room. I climbed into the backseat and Ranger got in beside me.

I raised a brow at him.

"Just in case we run into any more shooters," he said seriously.

"So not gonna happen," I crossed my arms and glared.

His lips twitched as he put on his seat belt. "Did you learn anything?"

"Nothing we didn't already know," Mitch said. "Whoever is doing this is professional."

"He's got a professional hit man on his ass," Ranger said incredulously.

"It looks that way. The car that was used was stolen. The owner didn't even know it was missing yet. The gun was a glock. There were two men wearing black indistinguishable."

"None of ours," Ranger asked.

"No," Mitch smirked, "we're all accounted for."

"What's so funny," I frowned.

"That Carl asked me that too," Mitch shook his head.

"Yea, we'd be after one of our own," Ranger sighed. "If we wanted to erase one of our own, we'd be a lot neater about it."

"No shit," Mitch frowned.

"What," Ranger said.

"I'm just starting to wonder if Stephanie's on to something."

"Come on Mitch," Ranger shook his head. "Mike was better than a choir boy in Afghanistan."

"This was professional. What on God's earth could Mike have done in Afghanistan that pissed off someone who had money enough to hire a professional? Let's be real here Ranger. He was right. If they were coming after someone, it would be you, Tank, Lester, Bobby or me…it sure as hell wouldn't be Mike. There's something here that we're missing."

Ranger sat back with a sigh, "man, this is not a good time for us to become embroiled in an international incident with our asses on the line."

"When is it ever a good time," I said casually looking out the window.

Mitch laughed, "Good point."

"I just meant that I have other things I need to be concentrating on and not this crap," Ranger said seriously and squeezed my hand lightly.

I turned to smile at him, "thank you. But this is the suck zone. You have no choice but to solve the mystery. It's what you do."

"It's what you do," he said grimly. "I just keep you safe and clean up the mess afterwards and during."

I sighed, "Yea, well as much as you don't like the idea of being involved in an international incident with our asses on the line…I like it about a million times less."

"You know, I think I'm really starting to look forward to my session with Dr. Addison tomorrow," Ranger said with a huge sigh. "I have a lot to talk to him about."

"Just remember that he's not there to help you solve murders, unless it's to prevent you from doing one. He's there to help you through your emotional issues."

"My emotional issues," he said taking a deep breath.

"I know you don't need him to help you know how you feel. You need him to help you deal with those feelings and to learn to express them to me."

"I got it," he nodded.

"I hope so."

"And of course, I'll have to get with Tank and dig through this latest mess we're in or Mike's in or whoever the hell is in and fix it."

"Just be careful doing it," I said softly. "The bean needs her Daddy."

His expression softened and he tugged me lightly against him. "I'll be careful, I promise."

"You better."

"And I'll keep you safe as well."

"Good luck with that," I snorted again.

"You're my priority Stephanie," he said seriously. "I'll keep you and the bean safe. Please trust me to do that."

"I do," I said quietly. It was the one thing I trusted him with completely.


	12. Chapter 12

We were up earlier than any of us wanted to be the next morning. Ranger had a therapy session and he gave in at bedtime and told me that Mitch could take me to the mall as long as we had backup. Seriously…backup to go to Macy's…that's a new one.

I woke up sick, but only threw up once. After I threw up I felt pretty good so I took that as a good sign.

We dropped Ranger off at Dr. Addison's at exactly five minutes till ten AM and Mitch drove straight to the mall from there. We had picked up three tails when we left the gate at the house, one of them stayed with Ranger at Dr. Addison's and the other two followed us to the mall.

I craned around to see Lester and Gabe waving at me from the nearest SUV. "You're kidding, right? I have a total of five body guards today?"

"More than that actually," Mitch grinned. "You actually have everyone in the com too. You know we do security for the mall."

"Right," I shook my head in amazement. "I picked them up as a client."

"He said he'd keep you safe," Mitch shrugged. "He meant it."

"I see that," I sighed. "But does he have to use all his resources to do it? Are our clients being serviced?"

He laughed, "Don't worry about our clients. They're fine. They're happy. They love us. We hired four more people."

"I told him we'd hire more people," I said smugly. "In this economy businesses and homes need good security more than ever. They can't afford not to be."

"That's true," he nodded. "Besides, the market's going back up."

"Let's hope that continues," I sighed.

"Well, you're certainly going to do your part for the economy today."

"You have no idea," I grinned. "I'm in pretty good shape. I mean I had five suitcases worth of stuff at Haywood. Ranger had one duffle bag. I'm gonna buy him some clothes today."

"Okay," he grinned and pulled into a parking space. Each of the SUV's parked on one side of us.

I shook my head. "Are they going in too?"

"One of each team is going inside," he nodded.

"Cool," I said reaching for the door, "there will be plenty of men to carry my bags."

Mitch just laughed and followed behind me.

I honestly did intend to buy things for Ranger only when I arrived. Well, let's be real, if I happened upon a bookstore and came away with some books for the bean that was good too.

Our first stop was the Gap. By the time I handed the guy my credit card Lester was starting to shake his head. I had bought the man quite a few things.

"Are you worried he'll be naked?"

"Maybe I don't want my baby to think his father is the devil because he only wears black."

"Ouch," Lester grimaced and grabbed the bags off the counter. "I'll take these to the truck. I'll meet you where?"

"Old Navy," I said signing the receipt.

"Got it," he said and headed out the door.

When I finished at Old Navy Hal took those things to the truck. I was heading to Aeropostale when I was sidetracked by the Baby Gap store. I stood outside the store with my mouth open and just stared in the window.

"Wow," I whispered.

Mitch grinned, "You want to go in?"

"If I do, I'll buy things for the bean," I whispered. "I'll buy a lot of things for the bean."

"Is that a bad thing," he asked.

"Nope," I said and entered the store.

By the time we finished Baby Gap and Aeropostale it was time for lunch so we headed to the food court and all four of us got in line at McDonalds. I shook my head with a grin.

"What," Lester frowned.

"Are you in this line because I am?"

"Hell no," he shook his head adamantly. "I'm in this line to get a Big Mac."

I just grinned and walked up to the counter. "Everyone wants a Big Mac," I asked.

They nodded.

I turned to the girl who was staring at the man flesh behind me with wide empty eyes and a little bit of drool on the corner of her mouth. I waited patiently till she shook her head and turned to focus on me.

"Oh I'm so sorry," she blushed.

"Don't worry about it," I smiled. "It happens all the time. We need four Big Mac Value Meals Large sized with Cokes. Guys…you all want coke?"

"Is the Pope Catholic," Lester smirked.

I turned back to the girl with a grin. "That's it then…for now. They're growing boys. You know, you better add three more Big Macs just to be on the safe side."

"Sure," she nodded. "That's forty-one dollars and eighteen cents."

I handed her my Rangeman credit card. "Lunch is on the boss today boys."

Mitch chuckled.

We ate in companionable silence for a while. They were on their second Big Macs when the conversation picked back up.

"So, where else do you want to go," Mitch asked.

"Hmmm…Abercrombie and Fitch and probably the Disney Store," I said thoughtfully reaching for my phone. "Yo."

"Yo," Ranger said. "Where are you?"

"At the food court," I said sipping my coke.

"What are you feeding my baby," he said in amusement.

"My daughter had a Big Mac, fries and a coke," I said with a smile. "She isn't protesting. There's a good chance she has my taste in food."

"We can fix that," he smiled. "I'll be there in three."

I closed the phone and sighed, "Well, do you think I have time to down a hot fudge sundae before Ranger sneaks up behind me?"

"Why," Mitch grinned.

"He's concerned about the beans eating habits. I need a sundae."

"I'm on it," he said heading for the counter.

By the time Ranger arrived at our table, I was a third into the sundae.

"Babe," he sighed and shook his head and dropped onto the bench beside me.

"How was therapy," I raised a brow. "Did he make you cry?"

He shook his head but his lips twitched, "no, I didn't cry. This session was mostly just getting to know each other. You know what I mean?"

"Yep," I agreed.

"He said he'd do our couples counseling too."

"Cool," I took another bite of the sundae.

"Yea, we just need to make an appointment. I wanted to talk to you first. You know, he does look and sound exactly like Gary Sinise."

"It's oddly comforting isn't it," I smiled.

"Oddly yes," he nodded. He opened his mouth to request a bite of the ice cream.

I gave him a spoonful and smiled. "You just ate a bite of hot fudge sundae."

"Yea, but it's on old reliable vanilla ice cream," he reminded.

"That's sort of us combined, wouldn't you say?"

"I would," he agreed and grabbed a napkin and wiped my mouth off. "So I looked in the back of the truck and it appears that you've had quite a bit of retail therapy."

"Yes I have," I said happily. "And you have new clothes."

"Me," he blinked.

"The bean needs to know that her father wears something other than black," I said seriously.

"There's nothing wrong with black," he said.

"No, there isn't. It's especially good if you're a mercenary, a ninja, a pirate, a funeral home director or the devil."

He just looked at me and shook his head.

"Being a parent means changing some little things," I said quietly.

"Got it," he nodded.

"You can still wear black," I sighed. "I'd just like you to wear other things more often. Is that okay? It makes us seem a little bit normal."

"Sure," he leaned over and kissed my head. "So, where are we going next?"

"Abercrombie and Fitch and the Disney Store," Mitch said gathering trash.

"But first we feed the boys in the cars," I said and started to get up and go to the counter.

"I got it," Lester said.

I shrugged.

"Okay, lead the way," Ranger said and took the empty sundae cup from my hand. He smiled at my pout. "If you're good, I'll buy you a pretzel later."

"Oh boy," I rolled my eyes and started toward the stores.

He smacked me on the butt, "you say that now, but we'll see about later."

I have a small obsession with Disney. You know I wanted to go on my honeymoon to Disney World, right? Well, we didn't have a honeymoon, but I'm still obsessed. I thought I was going to be bad in that store. The guys were worse. I spent a fortune in that store and they spent a fortune as well. Ranger just walked around with this thoughtful frown on his face and occasionally he'd show me something and add it to our ever growing pile. There's a closet Disney freak in Ranger, I'm sure of it.

The next shop we hit was Gymboree. As weepy as I got looking at tiny little socks and tee shirts, my big bad former Army Ranger husband was just as bad. He didn't cry overtly, but I think his first session with Dr. Addison had to be a success. I think he's getting in touch with his emotions. Now, if he'd just learn to express them to his wife.

By the time we finished at the mall, it was almost six PM and I'd definitely shopped till I dropped. I needed a nap and I needed it badly. We caravanned to the house and the guys unloaded while I went to survey the contents of the freezer. Mitch was right about the moms and Ella loading us up. I just put some things into the microwave and fed the entire bunch of us in no time.

Then I headed up the stairs to put Ranger's new clothes away while he and the guys sat around talking business. They were going over every thing they knew about Mike Stone when I left them. It was definitely more than I needed to know.

It took about an hour before I had all of the things I'd bought put up and still there were great gapping holes where he could put clothes. Well, there were great gaping holes where I could put clothes too, but now we were a little more even.

I flopped back on the bed and opened my ringing cell phone, "Yo."

"Yo to you too," Brian said in amusement.

"Hi Brian," I smiled.

"So…I hear congratulations are in order and you're about to be a mommy."

"I don't know that I'm about to be one," I said with a smile, "but in eight months we'll find out if the kidney bean on the Ultrasound is really a baby or just supper."

He howled with laughter, "the way I hear it is that you're definitely knocked up."

"From Christian," I smiled.

"Who heard it from Natalie, who heard it from Cal, who heard it from Tank, who heard it from…"

"Stop! Stop," I laughed. "In another minute you'll be begetting."

"Ha-ha," he said with a chuckle. "Are you happy?"

"I'm not delirious yet, but I'm getting there."

"Has he said the words yet?"

"No," I sighed. "But he had his first therapy session with Dr. Addison so I have high hopes."

"Wow…the dark knight is in therapy," he said in amazement.

"I know," I grinned. "He loves me."

"I know," he sighed. "I've told you that all along."

"I know. How are you doing?"

"I'm good," he said seriously. "I'm getting my shit together. Dad is joining me in a couple of days and we're going to head over to New Zealand. You're not going to believe this but my father is a closet Tolkien fan. Apparently he's completely obsessed with _**Lord of the Rings**_. Would you have guessed that in a million years?"

"No," I laughed. "I would not."

"Me either. He's so much more relaxed these days. It's like he's a completely different man. I actually rather like this guy and to my surprise, he likes me too."

"I'm so glad," I sighed happily.

"So, do you want a boy bean or a girl bean," he asked.

I giggled, "That's what I said. I think it will be a girl bean. It's my opinion that Ranger's evil ways will return and karmicly repay him in spades by delivering one gorgeous Hungarian-Italian-Cuban daughter with sex appeal in spades."

"Ouch," he winced. "I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy and Manoso is not my worst enemy."

"Who is your worst enemy?"

"These days, it's me," he said in amusement. "Anyway…I am glad that you're happy and things are getting better. You know I love you and only want the best for you."

"I know," I smiled.

"I'll call you in a bit. Maybe Dad will have something to say too."

"I can't wait," I giggled.

"Right," he laughed. "I love you. Take care of yourself."

"I love you too," I smiled and closed my phone. I sighed and looked up to see Ranger standing in the doorway with his arms crossed watching me.

"Who do you love too?"

"Brian," I shrugged and sat up and put my phone on the charger.

He sighed, "How do you love him?"

"A lot differently than I love you," I said softly.

"Is that good," he frowned.

"It depends on who you ask," I shrugged.

"He's…he's the only one I was ever really worried about taking you away from me, from us, from…someday," he sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"You weren't worried about Morelli?"

"No," he said seriously, "I had too much on him."

"I can imagine," I said dryly and disappeared into the closet to change.

"Believe me; if I thought you were seriously going to marry him, I'd have given you the information to make an informed decision. I just didn't want you to choose me because you had no other options."

"As you so rightly pointed out," I said emerging from the closet in my pajamas, "I had plenty of options until I found them all women."

He made a face. "I only said that because I was jealous."

"Really," I rolled my eyes.

"Really," he smiled and shook his head. "You could find a guy in a heartbeat. Goodman would love it if you'd tell me to take a hike and give him a chance. Hell, Mitch would willingly slide into my place without batting an eye. You have options. I just don't want you to take them."

"Out of curiosity why do you call Brian- Goodman and you call Mitch- Mitch?"

"What," he blinked at me.

"You refer to Brian by his last name and you refer to Mitch by his first name. Don't you think that's interesting?"

"I know Mitch," he shrugged.

"I'm sure that's it," I nodded.

"What do you want me to say Stephanie?"

"Whatever you want to," I shrugged. "We're not in therapy now."

He sighed, "I am more jealous of Goodman than I am of Mitch because Goodman has… He's been inside of your body," he growled. "I don't like that."

My lips twitched, "really."

"Don't laugh at me woman," he growled again.

I walked over and put my arms around his waist, "I know how you feel. I don't like any woman that you've dated or have had a real interest in you, but anyone you've been inside of…I don't like them at all."

"Then why do you hate Jeanne Ellen so much," he said nestling his chin in my curls.

I shrugged, "she's a bitch."

He laughed, "Okay. I don't think I'll introduce you to anyone I've ever slept with in that case."

"Too late," I looked up at him, "I've met Rachel."

"That was eleven years ago," he groaned.

"And your point," I said seriously.

"No point," he sighed.

"But I like her," I said softly. "She's a good mom. Julie is a good kid."

"She is," he smiled. "So which room is going to be the nursery?"

"The nursery," I blinked. "The bean is going to sleep in here."

"For how long," he frowned.

"I don't know," I said in panic. "I guess until I know she won't die in her sleep."

"Babe…please, stop saying the bean is a 'her'. I'm starting to get really nervous."

"You probably need to be," I said smugly.

"But she can't sleep in here with us forever. How are we supposed to have a second child?"

I blinked up at him in shock, "you're going to want another one after this one?"

"Er…yea," he said sheepishly. "It may surprise you to learn that I am actually pretty well into the idea of the wife and kids and the whole family vacation thing. I'd really like to have a boy though. I'd love to be a scout master and maybe coach some little league or something."

I blinked at him again, "and if we only have girls?"

"Well," he frowned. "Maybe one of them will like sports?"

"Maybe," I nodded. "I am their mother."

"Right," he nodded thoughtfully. "As long as they're healthy it doesn't matter."

"Right," I nodded.

"So let's figure it out. We want to start thinking about paint and all that kind of thing."

"Well, it's going to be close. So which bedroom is the closest?"

We walked out in the hall and into the door of the nearest bedroom. It was decorated already and comfortable looking. It was also the room Mitch was using, not that you could tell since it was pristine.

"We can remodel it. We still have the empty bedroom. We'll move everything to that one and we'll make this one the nursery."

I sighed, "She can't stay with us?"

He sighed, "For a while. Not for long. We'll talk to the pediatrician and find out how long is good. Besides, if the bean saw us doing some of the stuff I have done to you and plan to do to you again; it would be scared for life."

I blushed hotly. "Your point is taken." I sighed and looked around the room.

Ranger wrapped around me from behind and smiled against my ear, "what about Disney?"

"What," I blinked.

"Then we don't have to know if it's a boy bean or a girl bean, the baby will have a great bedroom and we don't have to worry about the sex."

I sighed, "I like that."

"I figured as much," he smiled.

"No," I turned in his arms and smiled up at him, "I really do like it. I mean it."

He gazed down at me for a moment before leaning in to kiss me slowly and sweetly. "I want to stay married to you…forever."

"Yea," I raised a bow.

"Yea," he sighed. "I'll get to the rest of the words eventually. But please believe me. I want to be with you."

I sighed and relaxed against him. We were going to be okay. We really were.


	13. Chapter 13

The next morning I slept in. I don't know why, but I knew my body needed it. It could have been the wild day at the mall when I shopped till I dropped, or it could have been the day before when some maniac tried to kill us. I'm not sure. I'm going with a combination of both.

It was also the day I was officially four weeks pregnant. That's almost a third through my first trimester and one tenth of the way through the whole pregnancy and that was a cause for celebration. Every day we got closer to the second trimester was a day we could be surer the pregnancy would not fail. Its not that I think the pregnancy will fail, but it's better to be safe than sorry.

When I did finally open my eyes I was warm and safe in Ranger's arms. His body was full against me and his face was in my hair. He was also very aroused. Usually that would be a big deal to me. Believe me, if you'd had sex with him before you'd be thrilled by it too. But today between the pressure on my bladder and the nausea, I wasn't sure I'd ever want to have sex again much less in the very near future. Besides that, until he said the words…I didn't want to.

I eased away from him and headed straight for the bathroom. If I threw up, I'd just have to deal with it. Time and urine waits for no man. Of course, I did throw up while I was peeing. God I love that. Fortunately I had taken to keeping a bowl in the bathroom for just that purpose. So when I finished I just flushed it and rinsed the bowl. It sounds gross. It is gross. But it's efficient.

I brushed my teeth and turned the water on and stripped. Ranger came into the bathroom just as I was getting into the shower.

"Oh…sorry," he said as his eyes went from brown to black in a millisecond.

"It's okay," I sighed. "Give the water closet a moment. I threw up. It probably still smells like it."

"I'll be okay," he disappeared behind the door.

I stepped into the shower and sighed as the warm water slipped over my skin. I love showers. I know a lot of women are bath girls, but I'm all about the shower. I don't put anything I just washed off of me back on me this way. I think it's a good solution.

"Mitch says Mike is coming by again this afternoon to see about those sides you guys talked about and the chocolate thing."

"Yea," I nodded. "We finished the recipes last night when I couldn't sleep."

"Where was I," he frowned.

"Out like a light," I smiled.

"I slept through you getting out of bed and leaving the room."

"Don't worry about it soldier," I smirked. "You just need to be more aware of your surroundings."

"Don't make me come in there and spank you," he growled.

"Yea, that's what you want to do," I chuckled. Sure I laughed, but my entire body just zinged to life. Nipples went to point, heat went to belly, moisture to do-dah. Zero to one second, I was ready. That's what it's like to be around Ricardo Carlos Manoso especially when you know that anything he promises you, he can and will deliver on…at least when it comes to pleasure.

He opened the shower door and stepped in naked. No he stepped in nekkid. For those of you who aren't up on the distinction, let me enlighten you. Naked is being without clothing. Nekkid is being without clothing and being up to something. You get it? I knew you would.

"What are you doing," I raised a brow.

"I need help washing my back," he said innocently.

"Right," I said with narrowed eyes. "What about your stitches?"

"I've got a big plastic bandage thing over it so I can shower." He smiled, "okay now?"

"You need help washing your back," I shook my head.

"I do," he blinked.

"Riiiigggghhhtttt," I smiled.

"I'm not going to try to seduce you. I promise."

"Does he know that," I said looking down at the erection bobbing between us.

"He's been informed," he said dryly.

"Uh-huh," I nodded and dipped my head under the flow of water.

Ranger stepped under the other shower head and sighed. "This is the best shower on the planet. When we bought the house I had no idea how much I was going to love his shower."

"Me either," I admitted as his backside bumped mine. I grinned and reached for my shampoo. "But it's a great shower."

"You know I've been thinking about some of the things you said."

"I've said a lot of things over the years Ranger. I'm a bit of a talker. You're going to have to narrow it down a bit."

"Right," he said reaching for his own shampoo. "I was thinking about what you said about the house not being yours. You don't feel like it's your home?"

I sighed, "I was a little hasty and a little bitter at the time. I love the house. It is more you and than me but over time it will become more of both of us. It's fine."

He frowned, "but I want it to feel like your home now."

"I know," I sighed and turned to wrap my arms around his wet and soapy body. "And I appreciate it. But I think…well, as soon as I feel like we're really forever it will probably feel more right. At least Rex's ashes are here."

"And the Def Leppard stuff is in the rec room downstairs," he said helpfully.

"That's a start," I smiled. "If all else fails, the bean will do the trick."

"Yea," he sighed. "Come on…wash my back while I still have the strength to say no to your advances."

"Ha…you couldn't say no to my advances," I laughed. "If I advanced on you, you'd cave like a wounded gazelle."

"I most certainly would not," he said in shock. "I would tell you firmly, but politely, no thank you. I can't do that."

"You would," I raised a brow.

"I would," he assured me and batted his eyes at me.

I shook my head. He was full of crap. He was teasing me and he wanted to have sex for sure. He was seeing if I could say no. I can say no. Part of me was tempted to take him up on that very clear dare. But I had the bean to consider now. I needed the words.

By the time Mike arrived at almost three with a battalion of Rangeman employees as his escort Mitch and I had tested all the side dishes we were going to suggest and retested the chocolate thing as well. Okay, we did the chocolate thing because we wanted to eat it. The side dishes were honest-to-God test products though. We had also prepared a boatload of food since we knew Mike was travelling with a caravan.

"Hi guys," I smiled accepting hugs from all of them and redirected them toward the kitchen where the food was set out buffet style. Mitch made them drinks and Ranger directed them to various places to sit around the house. After we ate and the guys loaded the dishwasher and did clean up, they went downstairs to play pool or bowl or whatever they wanted while Mike, Mitch, Lester, Ranger and I stayed in the kitchen to go over the products.

I dug out my copy of his menu with all of my changes and passed it to him. "Okay, you've tasted or had someone else taste the side dishes for you." I smiled.

"Wait, he didn't taste them all," Ranger frowned.

"Some were healthy," I said with a twitch of my lips.

Ranger blinked at Mike like he was an alien. "You're one of them."

"One of them," he blinked.

"One of those junk food junkies like Stephanie used to be."

"Used to be," Mitch guffawed. "I've got news for you dude. She's still a junk food junkie. She just eats the crap you eat too."

Ranger rolled his eyes.

Mike laughed, "I don't like vegetables much. They have to be pretty well disguised."

"That's just wrong," Ranger shook his head. "Well, I had some of everything for lunch and it was all delicious."

"It was," Lester nodded. "I'm not big on vegetables either."

"I was the guinea pig," Mitch grinned. "If I liked it, we knew it was good stuff."

"Good point," Mike said watching me put together the chocolate thing. "I can tell you already that I'm more than willing to taste this one."

"Me too," Lester said and I saw a little drool.

I laughed as I worked putting together three of the desserts. I didn't make one for either Mitch or I as we'd already 'tested' two of them ourselves. I finally put the dishes down in front of the men. "Okay, there are no nuts or nut products in this dessert. So it's safe to serve to any customer including those with nut allergies. The cake or brownie or whatever you want to call it can be prepared in advance. Everything else you only have to heat or whatever depending on what you want to do. I made the whipping cream from scratch, but you can use something already made to save time and expense."

Ranger took a careful bite and his eyes lit up, "this is really good. It's not too chocolate. I can taste the vanilla and the caramel with the chocolate."

I grinned at Mitch.

"Marry me," Mike sighed.

I laughed.

"She's already married," Ranger said dryly.

"Besides I have dibs," Mitch raised a brow at Ranger.

Ranger shook his head at him, "one of these days Mitch. One of these days…"

Mitch just grinned.

Mike took the revised menu from me and studied it thoughtfully as he ate. "This is really perfect. The balance is incredible. I can't fucking believe I paid someone a fortune to do this for me the first time and all I got was this," he tapped the menu. "Then you come along and this is brilliant." He sighed, "When I become a mogul, you'll be famous."

"Why will I be famous," I frowned.

"You're going to get credit for your work."

"I didn't do it for any other reason than to help you."

"You know," Ranger said with a twinkle in his eye, "if you want to thank her, you could name this dessert after her."

Mike nodded.

"Oh hell yea," Lester grinned. "Chocolate Stephanie…dude, you'd sell a million of these to the guys that come to your place."

"I would," Mike said thoughtfully.

"I think you should go with something that fits your current menu," Mitch said with a slight smile from where he was leaning against the refrigerator. "Why don't you call it Bombshell Blast?"

"Done," Mike said scribbling the words on the menu after crossing out chocolate thing. "This is perfect. You guys are great. You should come by the restaurant tomorrow and see how it's coming along."

"We may do that. I have another therapy session and we were going to swing by our new building while we were out. Steph do you want to pick me up after therapy and we'll go look at real estate," Ranger grinned.

"Sure," I nodded.

"We'll be there…as long as our bodyguards let us," Ranger nodded toward Mitch and Lester.

"I'm sure we can work it out," Lester said. So I'll take you to therapy and wait there and then they'll come by and pick you up and then what?"

"Then we'll all go out to our site and then to Unit," Ranger shrugged.

"Sounds good," he nodded.

"Great," Mike said happily. "My chefs are dying to meet Stephanie and pick her brain."

"You know the weird part is that she's only been cooking since last summer," Lester said with a slight smile. "Before that all she could really do was make a pop tart in the toaster."

"I don't believe you," Mike said incredulously.

"It's true," I smiled. "I was pathetic. I only ate fast food. It was bad. Then I bought my house and took some cooking classes and voila."

"She's like a sexier Rachel Ray," Lester grinned.

"Thanks Les," I laughed.

"Dude, keep it up and I'm calling Marina," Ranger warned.

"Try," he grinned. "She's in Tokyo."

"Ass," he muttered.

I just smiled.

We sat around talking for a few more minutes and then headed downstairs to join the other guys. They were discussing how we needed to have the next big Rangeman party there.

"We're planning on it," Ranger nodded. "I thought we'd do something this summer, like over Memorial weekend. We have the indoor pool and the outdoor pool. Who knows, we may actually fire up the yacht."

I just shook my head. "If we don't get the indoor pool fixed, it's going to be moot."

"Yea," he frowned.

"I'll call the pool repair place in the morning," I smiled.

"Thanks," he grinned.

I bowled a frame or two before Ranger decided that he wasn't sure it was good for me to bowl in my delicate condition. I would have argued with him, but the worry on his face seemed so genuine. So I went to the pool tables and played there for a while. Of course, with Ranger's healing wounds there was very little he could do. He spent most of the evening sitting in a comfortable leather chair with a glass of some amber liquid chatting with Mike.

Things were going great and then I yawned.

Mitch froze at the pool table and then made his shot. "Okay, we need to get Mike home safely and secure the perimeter. Let's do this thing."

The guys seemed to mobilize all at once and headed up the stairs. "Hey," I called after them frowning. "I was winning."

Ranger dropped his arm around my shoulders. "You yawned."

"So," I shook my head.

"Your caretaker determined that you were tired and therefore the party was over."

I sighed, "Geez, it's like having two husbands."

"Only it's not," he said meeting my eyes with his serious gaze.

"Don't panic Ranger, I only meant that he was bossy and controlling like you not that I was going to hop into the sack with him."

"Not funny," he shook his head and started for the stairs. "That is so not funny."

I put my pool cue up with a grin. "I thought it was funny," I muttered to myself.

I was just starting up the stairs when it sounded like a combat zone outside. I could hear gun shots and the sound of small explosives. I could hear swearing and yelling. I ducked in the corner under the curving staircase and just stayed where I was.

Ranger appeared at the top of the stairs with a look of blind panic on his face.

I just gave him thumbs up. He came running down the stairs and grabbed my hand as he came hauling ass by and headed straight for the bowling alley. "You want to go bowling now," I said in shock over the racket outside. He hustled me down the lanes and through the opening that I knew led to storage. He waved his key ring at a bottle and a small panel opened. He stuck his hand inside onto a screen and another door opened. He grabbed my hand again and we went into a tunnel.

"Stay put," he said softly. "I mean it Stephanie. Do not move."

"Where are you going," I frowned.

"To make sure my men are okay," he said softly.

I grabbed his hand, "do not make me a widow."

"Not a chance Babe," he said and kissed me roughly before heading back out.

It was a long time before anyone came to get me and when someone did, it was Mitch. He pulled me up off the floor and into his embrace. "You're all right?"

"I'm fine," I assured him. "Was anyone hurt?"

"Hal's on his way to the hospital. Tanks got him. We think it's minor. They didn't make it on the premises, but it was scary."

"They were coming in?"

"They're after someone that was here."

"That narrows it down," I sighed. "Where's Ranger?"

"Talking to the cops," he said. "He told me to come and make sure you were safe and to take you upstairs. He doesn't want the cops to even know that you're onsite."

"Why," I frowned.

"He's trying to protect you. He doesn't want you to have to be up all night when you're already tired."

I sighed. "You know, I'll be 31 in October. At some point you're going to have to treat me like a grown up and let me make my own decisions."

"Yea, well…it won't be while you're pregnant," he said with a smile.

"Thanks," I shook my head and started up the stairs to the next level. I know that's where I was going, but the dizziness overtook me and that was that.


	14. Chapter 14

I woke up earlier the next morning than the previous morning, but Ranger didn't. I woke up with his body around me and his arms surrounding me and his erection nudging my ass and I was happy till the nausea took over. I crept out of bed and did my thing including my early morning vomit routine and then showered and primped in the bathroom. I crept through the bedroom and went into the closet to dress in jeans and a long sleeve tee shirt.

He was wrapped around my pillow when I exited the closet still fast asleep.

I smiled and climbed up on the bed to straddle his reclined form and began to kiss his back.

He sighed and rolled to his stomach to expose more flesh and I smiled and went with it kissing down his back to his ass and nibbling.

"Is this an invitation," he muttered into the pillow.

"No," I smiled and kissed back up to his neck. "I was just waking you up. You have therapy this morning and I know you were up late protecting your wife and child."

He rolled to his back and grabbed me and pulled me against him and buried his face in my neck. "Yes I was. And I should be rewarded."

"You just were," I giggled as his scruffy face moved in my neck. "When you can say the words, I'll show you more."

"Oh, that's not fair," he groaned as I pulled away.

"Consider it incentive," I smiled at him from the door, "get in the shower or you won't have time for breakfast before therapy."

He sighed, "You're a hard woman Stephanie Manoso."

"I have a hard husband," I waggled my brows suggestively.

He dived off the bed for me just as I went safely through the door.

"You need to work on your reflexes Babe," I grinned and headed down the stairs. I know I heard him growl on the other side of the door.

Mitch was in the kitchen drinking coffee over the morning paper.

"Good morning," I smiled.

"Good morning," he echoed tiredly. "You know, chasing around after juvenile delinquent pop stars was easier than this."

"But this is so much more rewarding and a lot more fun," I smiled and turned to dig in the refrigerator.

"Yea, it is," he sighed.

I straightened and saw his eyes on my ass before his lids slid down, "so…what time is Ranger's appointment with Dr. Addison?"

"Ten," he said.

"Then we have time for breakfast. I think I'll make a breakfast casserole," I said thoughtfully and started digging out bowls.

"Sounds good," he agreed.

Okay, Mitch was looking at my ass. That really wasn't a surprise. Most of the men who worked for Ranger had taken a look or seven million at my assets. Sometimes the assets were far more exposed than the loose pair of jeans currently covering them. Of course Mitch had broken up with his girlfriend and he wasn't getting any, so it could also be that. Let's face it, I get hard up. Men get hard up…literally.

By the time Ranger came down for breakfast the casserole was in the oven and the kitchen smelled divine.

He kissed my neck and wrapped his arms around me, "smells good."

"Breakfast casserole," I smiled stretching my neck to give him more access.

"You were very naughty this morning," he whispered as he nibbled my ear.

"Was I," I smiled.

"You will be punished," he nipped at my neck.

"I'm terrified," I smiled and pulled away. "Would you like some coffee?"

"Yes please," he agreed watching me fill the cup. "I have definitely figured out where you get the flavored coffee fetish."

"Of course you have. Dr. Addison has a different flavor every day of the week," I sighed. "It was so exciting to get there and see what he had."

He shook his head, "that's why you like him?"

"That and he sounds like Gary Sinise," I shrugged.

"And he looks like Gary Sinise," he agreed.

"He's also a good doctor," I said seriously.

"I'm sure he is," Ranger nodded. "I've just had one session so far."

"Well, before you leave today make our couples counseling one."

"I will," he nodded. "Do you think I could get a couple of sessions behind me before we start," he said softly.

"Of course," I agreed. "I want you to be comfortable."

"Thank you," he said kissing me as the oven timer went off.

Two hours later Mitch and I were in front of Dr. Addison's office and Ranger and Lester exited the building together. Gabe waved and drove away the other SUV that had delivered Ranger to therapy and guarded his safety while he was inside.

Lester got in the front with Mitch and Ranger joined me in the back seat.

"The new property first," Mitch met Ranger's eyes in the rear view mirror.

"Yea," he nodded.

"How was it," I whispered as he reached for my hand and merged our fingers.

"A little rough," he said with a sigh.

"I'm sorry," I said and pulled his hand up to my mouth and kissed his fingers.

"Hopefully it will all be worth it in the end."

"I'm sure it will be," I said with a smile.

"It's eleven o'clock, are either of you hungry yet," Lester asked.

"No, I'm good," Ranger said. "We had a breakfast casserole. I know you got some."

"Yea," he nodded. "But I'm getting hungry."

"We'll view the new property, then we'll get lunch and then we'll go to Unit. Is that okay? Will your stomach survive that long?"

"Yea," Lester shook his head.

Mitch pulled up to the gate and flashed his badge at the box securely fastened to the ground.

"Do the workmen all have badges," I said thoughtfully.

"Yea, they have to be checked out by us before they can work on the project," Ranger said seriously. "They have to sign all kinds of paperwork and we've paid them three times the market rate. In this economy, they're pretty loyal."

"I'd guess," I said as the SUV came to a stop in the dirt. "Not paved yet?"

"Not till last," Lester said.

"Ah," I nodded.

"They've got the dry wall up and they're painting these days. Don't worry, we're using safe paints," Mitch said. "You can walk through without worry."

"Good," I nodded.

Ranger walked around the truck and lifted me out and swung me up in his arms. "I don't want you to ruin your shoes."

"I appreciate it, but they're Nikes."

He grinned, "And I just want to carry you."

"You're not even released for light duty," I said and raised a brow at him.

He sighed and set me to my feet.

"Thank you," I smiled.

"You're welcome," he said taking my hand.

We walked to the stone sidewalk that surrounded the building and what I assumed was to be the public parking area. "This is nice stonework."

"Yea it is," Ranger nodded. "The craftsmanship on this project looks good so far."

"I think you'll be pleased," Mitch said opening the door for us.

I walked through the building letting my fingers linger over the wallpapers, paints, hardwoods, and tiles I'd picked out that now adorned the walls and floors of the offices. Ranger watched me as I touched and studied the contrasts and blends.

"Well, what do you think? Are you happy with your choices?"

"I'm more concerned about what you think," I said as I turned to look at him leaning in the doorway.

"I think it's beautiful," he admitted. "The place has no furniture in it yet and it already feels warm and… I want to work here. Tank loves it. He wants to work here."

I smiled, "good."

"That's what we're going for right," he said with a smile.

"Yea," I nodded. "So can I see the apartments," I asked.

"They're in the other building," he said. "We can take the tunnel."

"The tunnel," I frowned.

"Yea," he nodded. "It's a way for the guys to get back and forth without giving anything away. Nobody will know where the bulk of them are. The tunnel and all the buildings are outfitted with something that doesn't allow anyone to take a heat or movement sensor. This is totally state of the art."

"Wow," I blinked.

Mitch stuck his head in, "we're going through the tunnel?"

"Yea," Ranger nodded.

Mitch waited for us to precede him through the door and we went straight to the elevator. The workmen we passed along the way exchanged pleasantries with Ranger and the guys. They appeared to be familiar with all three of them. When we got to the lower level we met even more workmen attending to various projects. A few were obviously important enough to garner an introduction to me including the project foreman who studied blueprints in the corner with another man in a tie.

"Stephanie, this is Max Prince and this is Jim Winston," Ranger smiled. "Max is our architect and Jim is our contractor/project foreman. Gentlemen this is my wife Stephanie."

Max grinned and held his hand out to me at once. He was a good looking man. He was probably only in his mid thirties, but his black hair was graying at the temples. He had blue eyes that twinkled and I suspected that he was a prankster. "It is a pleasure to finally meet you Stephanie," he grinned. "Ranger has been telling us about you for years."

"Has he really," I smiled at him before diverting my suspicious gaze to my husband. Ranger had the intelligence to avoid eye contact. "It's a pleasure to meet you. But I would take everything he's told with a grain of salt. I'm not that bad. I haven't killed anyone in some time."

He threw his head back and laughed, "Well, that is good to know."

I saw Mitch's lips twitching and knew that Ranger's were probably twitching as well.

"He does talk an awful lot about you," Jim said shaking my hand. Jim was about fifty with a head full of grey hair and emerald green eyes that would give Harry Potter a run for his money. "But I assure you, he's only said loving things."

"I'm sure," I smiled. "It's good to meet you."

"How are you two feeling? We hear that you got tossed around when Unit blew," Max said crossing his arms thoughtfully and shaking his head ruefully.

"We were," Ranger admitted, "but we're going okay. I got a nice quiet stay in the hospital and we found out that we're having a baby. It wasn't so bad when you get down to it."

"Congratulations," Max grinned. "I have to tell you man, I was beginning to believe you were never going to get your head out of your ass and make an honest woman out of her. For all of your talking…"

"Thanks Max," Ranger grimaced. "You've said enough."

"Oh I don't know," I smiled at Max, "I think you can say more."

He winked at me, "do you have any sisters?"

"Yes, but she's married," I said with a laugh.

"Too bad," he sighed.

"You don't want a burg girl anyway," I said seriously. "They're all pretty much insane."

"All but you," he asked.

"Oh no, I'm the nuttiest of the bunch," I smiled.

"Stop making time with my wife Max," Ranger shook his head. "We're heading down Tunnel A to the barracks."

"Got cha," he nodded. "The path is clear to all tunnels."

"All tunnels," I grinned.

"You'll see," Ranger said looping his arm around my neck with a grin. "It's good to see you guys."

"It's good to see you mobile," Max said as we walked away.

Ranger gave him a backwards wave with his good hand. "Why did I think it was a good idea to marry you? Every man we meet wants to steal you."

"Yep," Mitch grinned and unlocked the tunnel door with his access card.

"You're not helping," Ranger scowled.

"I'm not trying to," Mitch raised a brow at him.

We walked a couple of hundred feet through the tunnel and went through another access door into a room that had another access door. Then we got onto the elevator and went up. The lower floor housed the laundry facilities, a work out room and all of the mechanicals. The second floor had a large commercial kitchen, a dining room and a separate apartment that would be for Ella and her husband. The third floor was the recreation facilities and the three floors above were apartments. They were bigger than the ones at the current facilities and some were two bedrooms. There were also a couple of bunk rooms on each floor for those that had to stay over for emergency reasons. Everywhere we went there were men's and women's restrooms. Rangeman was finally open to both sexes.

"These are really nice," I slid my hand over the stainless steel appliances. "You did good."

"You did good," Ranger smiled. "You picked everything out, remember?"

"Yea, but you listened," I beamed. "I want to see the next tunnel."

We repeated the process till we arrived at the true Rangeman gym and recreation area. This facility had places for the men and women to work out, to run, to swim, to play racquet ball and all sorts of other things. There was a small kitchen with a snack bar set up that Ranger told me would be operational through most of the day with an attendant. In these rough times, Rangeman would hire more people from the community to work for them. They would have access to specific areas of the compound only.

There were also locker rooms for both sexes and a lounge area with a bar set up that would be stocked. There were pool tables and ping pong tables as well as dart boards and other things.

"Is there another tunnel," I asked.

"Come on," Ranger nodded.

The next tunnel led to what I can only describe as the arsenal and labs of Rangeman. The weapons would be located here along with our own CSI team and state of the art equipment. It was an amazing set up.

"Wow," I blinked at the lab.

"Wow is right," Ranger nodded. "This is the most expensive part of the whole thing. It's even more expensive than the security systems we have in place."

"I'm truly impressed," I assured him.

"We're scouring the country for people to fill the positions. It's not as easy as I thought it was going to be to find people to do this that can pass our background checks."

"Hmmm," I nodded. "I suspect not. You should talk to Mooner."

He blinked at me.

"He has a doctorate in biochemistry. He might get off the weed long enough to help you out. He gets into trouble, but he's honest as the day is long and he's brilliant."

"I'll consider it," he said thoughtfully.

"You may also want to consider Manuel," I sighed.

"I thought he was on your shit list," he frowned.

"He is," I sighed. "But he's also brilliant. Before he became a drug lord, he worked in a crime lab in LA. He was really good at what he did."

"No shit," he said wide-eyed.

"No shit," I agreed. "Plus, he doesn't actually have a criminal record for anything. You know?"

"Yea…I'll think about it."

"He doesn't _have_ to work, but I think he'd appreciate the challenge."

"Okay," he nodded.

"Are there any more tunnels," I asked.

"Two or three," he grinned.

"Two or three," I raised a brow. "You're not sure? I don't believe that."

"Come on," he shook his head.

The next tunnel led to the parking garage. This was a separate facility than the other buildings completely. It was also heavily secured and all vehicles coming in were subjected to a thorough scanning process for bugs, homing devices and bombs. It was pretty impressive.

"That tunnel leads back to the main building," Ranger pointed. "There is also a direct tunnel from the rec area and from the lab. There's one more tunnel, but you've already seen it."

I frowned.

"Babe, you were in it."

I blinked at him, "from the house?"

"Yea," he nodded. "If something happens, you and the bean can get to safety or the people at Rangeman can get to us. Then we can move out from there."

"You've looked at the yacht," I said seriously.

"I've looked at the yacht. It's pretty heavy duty. We can move a large number of people from there. We're thinking of building a facility between the two compounds to house other boats. Then we can move out faster if we need to."

"I think it's a good idea."

He seemed surprised.

"What," I smiled. "We're having a baby. Naturally I'm more concerned about safety now than before."

"I like this," he grinned. "I like this a lot."

We went back to the main building and I made some notes from the blue prints. Then we found Jim and I asked him when I could start bringing furniture in. He studied his time line and gave me a time in five days. I should have been surprised, but with the way Ranger was doing things, I wasn't. He told Max to go ahead with the excavation and tunnel to the river.

Max grinned, "I'm way ahead of you. It's done. Tank said you'd say yes, so we did it. The tunnels not wired yet, but it's poured and stable."

"Good man," Ranger nodded. "We'll see you guys soon."

"Count on it," Max nodded.

We went outside and found Lester leaning against the wall when we left the building.

"Did you have a good visit," he asked me opening the door to the SUV for me.

"It was amazing," I grinned.

"Yea, it is," he grinned at Ranger and got into the front passenger seat.

Ranger scooted in beside me. "You're really impressed?"

"Yea and I thought you couldn't impress me anymore," I said with a slight smile. "I am very impressed."

"Good," he kissed my head. He leaned in to whisper, "and I can impress you any time you're willing to let me."

I felt the heat go straight to my hoohah, "cheater."

He just smiled.

"Can we eat now," Lester sighed.

"We can eat now," Ranger nodded in satisfaction.


	15. Chapter 15

Janet Evanovich owns the characters she created and the basic guideline to the story. I own the characters I've created. I've borrowed information on Stephanie's father from someone(s) fan fiction. Credit to all I've stolen from…I'm grateful, you can borrow mine. I make nothing of intrinsic value from this.

Instead of heading to Pinos or McDonalds for lunch we went to a little café that had recently opened along our path. They served a lot of vegetarian things like salads. Ranger suggested it. You're not surprised? I wasn't either really.

Mitch opened the menu and almost immediately frowned. "Er…this is all health food."

"Right," Ranger said with a smug smile.

"Dude, there's nothing edible on this menu," Lester sighed. "It's got tree bark and shit on it."

"There is no tree bark on this menu," Ranger rolled his eyes.

"Er…today's special," I leaned over to point out.

"Oh," he blinked.

"I can't eat here," Lester folded the menu and laid it down on the table. "I'll wait in the truck."

"I'm with him," Mitch nodded. "We'll hit a drive-thru on the way to Unit."

"I don't think so," Ranger shook his head.

"I'm driving," Mitch dangled the keys. "Are you gonna stop me?"

Ranger glared at him. The two men walked away with purpose.

"He's not afraid of you."

"Is that healthy," he frowned.

"Healthy," I raised a brow.

"You know for our boss-employee relationship," he said thoughtfully.

"I didn't say he didn't respect you," I smiled. "I said he wasn't afraid of you."

"Oh," he pursed his lips.

"There's a difference."

"Yea," he agreed.

"This menu really does suck," I said. It took every ounce of my will power to stay sitting there beside him versus running for the truck and taking advantage of our later trip to the drive-thru.

"You want to eat McDonalds too," he sighed.

"I do," I nodded with a lopsided smile.

"The bean wants McDonalds," he shook his head.

"She's three years or less away from her first happy meal," I agreed.

"Shit," he sighed. "Let's go."

"Thank you," I said and wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him hard. "I love you."

"I'm working on it," he said softly.

"I know," I smiled and kissed him again.

He left a tip on the table and we left the restaurant holding hands.

"Okay kids," he said rolling his eyes as we buckled in. "Go to McDonalds."

"Thanks Dad," Lester grinned.

"Let's roll," Mitch said pulling away from the curb.

We had Big Macs and fries and milkshakes and Ranger had a grilled chicken salad. He even got a vanilla ice cream cone after that while the rest of us had sundaes. Yea, it wasn't bad.

"Man, you might as well get used to coming here," Lester grinned. "Your daughter is going to want to go to McDonalds and get prizes from her happy meals."

"My child," Ranger stressed the word child versus son or daughter, "will not be able to drive until it's forty and it'll eat where I take him or her until then."

"She'll eat at McDonalds," I said with a smile. "I'll take her."

He sighed, "I know you will."

"You should stop fighting it," Mitch shrugged. "She'll be coming here for her friend's birthday parties," he pointed to the play land that was currently hosting a birthday party for a bunch of five year olds. "She's going to eat here often. Her friends are going to eat here. Get used to it."

"Why do you keep saying the bean is a girl," Ranger glared.

"Because Stephanie said it was a girl," Lester said innocently.

Ranger's glare turned to me and he sighed somewhat dramatically, "You're killing me."

I just smiled sweetly at him.

"Is everyone done with their ice cream," Ranger sighed.

"Yes Dad," Lester grinned gathering the trash.

We loaded back into the truck without any problems and headed over to the new Unit location. We ended up having to park halfway down the street near a vacant lot because the parking lot was currently being paved.

Mike met us at the door with a grin, "come on in. I'm so glad you're here."

"The outside is definitely different," I smiled. "It's still got a little bit of the USO feel to it, but I love the camouflage and net on the walls."

"I've got a couple of old army surplus jeeps coming to stick out front. I'm going to use them as seating for the waiting area along with some other stuff like that. I also have an old plane carcass coming to put on the roof. The actual neon sign will be on that plane."

"Oh that is cool," I grinned.

"Come on in and see the rest of the place."

"There are flat screens everywhere," Lester said in awe.

"Yea, we'll use them to televise local games and we'll run war movies on them too. We've gotten permission to use quite a few of them including Pearl Harbor. I'm pretty excited about that," Mike admitted.

"Oh man, Ben Affleck is going to be on your flat screens all the time," I said in awe.

"Yea," he laughed and elbowed me, "your husband is right there."

"Oh," I winced and reached for Ranger's hand, "oops."

"Right," he said dryly but he didn't pull away. Instead he meshed his fingers with mine.

Mike took us to the bar first. It was similar to the bar at his other place, but it was a little bigger. It looked like a base camp, but the seating was more comfortable. Then he took us into the restaurant itself. It was huge.

"Wow," I said turning around and around to get a complete view of the restaurant. "This is great. Women are going to love this. I love the Uncle Sam posters on the wall, especially the fact that they have hot guys on them. You won't have any trouble getting women to come back after their first visit with those posters and a bar full of men in uniform."

He laughed, "We added those after our first conversation. I got all the servers together and asked them what would make them want to come in here with their friends and all the things you said, they brought up. They also suggested the posters since they're in keeping with the style of the restaurant."

"I love it," I grinned.

"I want you to meet my chef staff," he led us toward the kitchen.

As we got closer to the kitchen I could smell food…my food cooking and I could hear music. I beamed, "they're making pot roast and lemon cake."

He laughed, "Yea, they're testing them. They're having a little trouble with the lemon cake. If you don't mind hanging out in the kitchen with them for a while maybe you can assess what they're doing wrong."

"Sure," I nodded.

He pushed the swinging doors open and we walked into a kitchen that at first glance was culinary mayhem. There were half a dozen burley men racing about singing at the top of their lungs. They weren't just singing any song either. They were singing _**I Want to Know What Love Is**_ by **Foreigner**. I have to say, it was unexpected. Even when they realized we were there, they kept right on singing and grinning at us as they continued to work in the kitchen.

I couldn't stop myself, I started singing with them. One of the guys came by and scooped me up and carried me off to the other side of the kitchen as he sang. He sat me down by the baking station and winked before dancing off back to the other side.

Ranger just stood by the door with this bemused expression on his face as though this happened all the time. Well, strange things happen with me all the time. He's really learned to roll with it.

The song ended and someone hit the off button on the player.

Mike grinned, "Guys I'd like you to meet Ranger Manoso, Ghost Wheeler, Lester Santos and Stephanie Plum Manoso. And you guys meet my chefs extraordinaire…Bull, Tree, Hawk, Truck, Wells, and Smith."

"Smith…is that your real name," Lester grinned.

The guy who was obviously Smith replied with a raised brow, "And you're proud of Lester? Yes, my name is Smith. It's actually Steve Smith."

Lester grinned and shrugged, "I think it's actually Luster, but my mother misspelled it."

Ranger shook his head.

"Wait…Ranger Manoso," one of the guys frowned and immediately straightened to attention, "Officer on the deck boys."

The men straightened.

"He's retired," Mike said with a sigh. He scowled at Ranger, "why does everyone keep treating you like you're some kind of demigod?"

Ranger shrugged, "stand down men."

One of the men, who appeared to be close to seven feet tall, relaxed his stance, "an officer, once an officer is always an officer, especially with Major Manoso's reputation." He offered Ranger a salute.

"Thank you," Ranger said with a smile and returned his salute. "So you gentlemen cook for this buffoon?"

The man howled, "Yes sir. We do cook for him. I'm Tree."

Ranger looked up, "I'm not surprised."

"We all met in the hospital after Afghanistan," another man shrugged, "I'm Hawk."

Lester nodded, "now it makes sense."

The guy who was obviously Bull or Truck approached me with a grin, "is this your lemon cake recipe?"

"Actually that one is my mothers," I smiled. "The rest are mine."

"Can you make it with me and I'll watch?"

"Sure," I agreed.

There was more military chitchat going on while Bull, Truck and I worked on the lemon cake. They took turns doing the desserts. They loved the Bombshell Blast and confessed they had been testing it a lot.

Eventually Ranger, Lester, Mitch and Mike left us alone in the kitchen and the guys all gathered around to watch me and to ask me how I came up with recipes. After I finished creating the first batter, Truck and Bull each made one of their own and all three were slid into the giant ovens to bake.

I leaned against the counter, "so what did you guys do in Afghanistan? It's not that I don't think you cooked there, but I have a feeling you did other things," I grinned.

"I drove," Truck grinned.

"I'd have never guessed," I smiled.

"Tree did scouting," Truck continued. "Smith did recon, Bull did munitions, and Wells was a radioman, and Hawk was a sharpshooter."

"That makes sense," I nodded.

"What did you do," Smith asked.

I laughed, "I wasn't in the army."

"Seriously," Bull blinked at me. "I just assumed that Major Manoso married someone that was formerly military."

"Nope, I'm a civilian. My father was though."

"Yea," Tree nodded, "what branch?"

"Army," I smiled. "He was a ranger too. You may have heard of him…Falcon?"

They gaped, "you're Falcon's kid?"

"Yea," I smiled.

"Damn, no wonder you look familiar. He was my CO in Afghanistan," Smith shook his head. "How's he doing?"

"He's great," I beamed. "I'll bring him by to see you."

"Make sure he's here opening night," he grinned. "One of our new chicken dishes is named for him."

"I'll do it," I promised.

"How did you meet Major Manoso," Tree asked as we whipped the icing into shape.

"I got a job doing bounty hunting for my cousin Vinnie and let's just say that I was in no way prepared for what the job would entail," I grinned. The men chuckled. "Connie Roselli, my cousin's manager, asked Ranger to sort of take me under his wing. Ranger was doing the high bonds and I was doing the low bonds. Anyway, we met and it's been steadily building ever since."

"He's got quite a reputation," Bull said quietly.

"I know," I nodded.

"Is he out of the game?"

"Yea," I nodded. "He's out, much to the chagrin of Robert and George."

Tree shook his head, "tell him I said to watch out for them. They've been sniffing around here trying to get us back in. I know they want him. They'd be settling for us. Your husband has a reputation as being the best of the best."

"He says Mitch is better," I smiled.

"Ghost," Smith shook his head. "That boy ain't natural. He can get in and out of places that nobody can without being seen. Yea…he's pretty damn good. I can see why the Major might feel that way."

"The Major can access places that nobody else can too," Bull reminded them.

"Yea, but he's sometimes caught. The Ghost, he was never caught," Smith reminded them.

I smiled to myself. So much would be clear to them if I could only explain the concept of unmentionables to them. But that would take a long time and honestly, the only way you ever understand it completely is to see it when it happens. It's tricky like that.

"Well, whatever they have that makes them come out alive is all that matters to me. I just want them both safe. You know what I mean?"

"I know," Truck nodded.

"So…were you a good bounty hunter," Tree asked.

"That's relative," I laughed.

"What does that mean," he grinned.

"Well, I did have a more than ninety-five percent success rate. But…for the most part I only pulled in low bonds at first. My big bonds came later and I usually had Rangeman as back up then. I did bring in a couple of big ones on my own."

"Like the Forturos," Hawk said with a slight smile.

"You've heard of me," I laughed.

"I put it together already," he grinned. "Gentlemen, the reason the chocolate dessert is called Bombshell Blast is because the creator was none other than the Bombshell Bounty hunter of Trenton New Jersey herself."

They gaped at me.

"Oh come on," I laughed. "I'm not that famous."

"But your antics are," Ranger said as his arm slid around me.

I jumped slightly, "seriously…I'm putting bells on all of your shoes."

He shook his head at me, "how is the baking going? It smells great."

"I'll let you guys in on a little secret," I leaned forward. "Ranger is a slave to the lemon cake. It's one of the few things he pollutes the temple with."

"I can totally dig that," Smith nodded. "This is some good cake," he sighed.

"I know," Ranger said with a grin. "How long before it's ready?"

"The cake has to cool before frosting Ranger," I reminded him. "It's going to be at least another forty minutes or so."

He sighed heavily, "We can't stay that long."

"I'll make you one tonight," I promised.

"You're the best wife ever," he said and kissed my head.

"Don't forget it," I smiled. "Does this mean it's time to go?"

"It is," he agreed.

"Gentlemen," I stuck my hand out. "If the cakes don't turn out all the same, give me a call and I'll get back over here, okay?"

"Thank you," Tree smiled and kissed my hand. "But you don't have to have an excuse. You're always welcome in our kitchen."

"Thank you," I grinned. "I really appreciate that."

"It's been an honor," Smith said. "Don't forget to make sure Falcon is here on opening night."

"I will do it. Should I tell him that Smith says hi?"

"That would be cool," he grinned. "It really has been fun."

"For me too," I grinned. "I had no idea a kitchen could be this stimulating."

Ranger scowled, "come on hussy…get out of here before I bend you over my knee."

I laughed and let him push me out of the kitchen as I waved goodbye to the men.

"What am I going to do with you? You just pick up men wherever we go."

"You told me that I was drying up all my resources by setting up all the guys at Rangeman. I told you that I was going to think outside the box."

"Seriously Stephanie…you're going over my knee," he growled.

"I'm so telling our daughter about this one day," I said with a giggle.

"Brat," he said with a smile and led me through the front doors.

We walked outside as Mitch went to get the SUV. He was just pulling away from the curb when the explosion happened. I gasped and buried my face in Ranger's chest. This wasn't happening. It just wasn't.


	16. Chapter 16

I heard the sound of metal crunching and I was pressed against the side of the building with Ranger's and Lester's big bodies blocking me from the blast. I was sobbing uncontrollably. I couldn't believe that Mitch was gone. He had to be gone.

Lester pulled away from us and started running.

Mike crashed out the front door of the restaurant with the chefs behind him. "What the fuck?"

"Car bomb," Ranger said hoarsely.

"Did someone call 911," Tree asked.

"Lester did," Ranger nodded.

"I need some help here," Lester yelled.

The chefs all ran to assist him in whatever he was doing and Ranger turned his head and gasped. "Babe…it wasn't the SUV. It wasn't our SUV that blew up. It was another car."

I raised my head and met his eyes with my own terrified and drowning blue ones "are you sure?"

"I'm sure," he hugged me to him. "They're pulling Mitch out now."

"Oh God," I sighed and wrapped my arms around his waist.

"He's standing up," he said with a deep sigh. "He's okay."

"This can't go on," I whispered. "We have to figure this thing out."

"I know."

"It's not Mike," I whispered. "I can feel that it's not Mike."

"Okay," he said quietly, "we'll talk about it later."

I nodded.

The police and the ambulance and the fire trucks all seemed to arrive at the same time. Tree and Bull walked Mitch over the ambulance so the EMT could look him over. Lester went to talk to the cops. Everyone else sort of backed out of the way.

"He's okay Stephanie," Smith said when he got back to where we were. "They may take him in and take some pictures, but he's good."

I nodded, "thank you."

"You're welcome. Who did you guys piss off? This wasn't aimed at Mike, was it?"

Ranger sighed, "I don't see how it could have been."

"Then it was one of you," he said seriously. "I'd start looking into that."

"We're going to," Ranger said grimly.

"I think we're out," I reminded Ranger, "we got all the skeletons…well, _**I**_ got all the skeletons out of my closet. We don't know where any of your closets are."

He rolled his eyes, "Steph…"

"Yea…whatever," I shook my head. I straightened, "I think I'll go back inside and let you boys sort this out. I have a feeling I'll have time to ice the lemon cake."

He nodded.

Smith met Ranger's eyes and nodded and followed me inside.

I shook my head once we got back inside, "you're just going to blindly let him tell you to babysit me?"

He grinned, "He's a Major I take orders from officers, especially officers as well respected as your husband."

"You were a good soldier?"

"I was a damn good soldier," he nodded.

"All right soldier," I smiled. "Did the cakes come out of the ovens before the bomb blew?"

"We just took them out," he nodded.

"Okay, then they will be ready to ice shortly. Why don't we make the lemon butter now?"

"Lemon butter," he frowned.

"See…that's why your cake hasn't tasted like my mothers," I laughed. "You'll see, it will make all the difference."

"Let's do this thing," he nodded and pushed the door to the kitchen open.

As we worked I thought it was a good time to ask some questions. "So…did all of you guys work at the other restaurant?"

"Yea," he nodded. "Tree, Hawk and I were scheduled to come here and we were going to hire some fresh talent to fill in the blanks. For now, we're going to continue on here until Mike decides what to do about rebuilding the other place. I think he should franchise this place, especially in military towns. If he has all six of us trained, that gives him six guys who know the food and that means he's got a head start."

"I think that's a great idea," I beamed at him. "So you all met in the hospital when you got out of Afghanistan. None of you ever went back or worked for the government again?"

He laughed, "You're trying to figure out if the target could be one of us?"

"I'm just examining all the options," I sighed. "I don't actually think it's any of you, but I want to be sure that you're all eliminated before I go to what I think my most likely victim is."

He nodded, "someone you care about?"

I laughed, "See, the thing about me is that I care about people fast. All I need is a couple of more days of your company and you'll be on my Christmas card list. I just like people. This is what I do. So…yea, it's going to end up being someone that I care about either way. I just want to figure out who it is and try to stop it before it's too late."

"Well, I do specialize in recon," he said with a smile.

"Isn't that jungle recon or desert recon or something that could be useful to me here," I asked with wide eyes.

"Its recon," he shrugged. "I just have a way of getting information from people."

"Without hurting them," I blinked.

"Usually," he said and took the melted butter off the stove.

I shook my head with a smile. "We have to let it cool just a little bit, and then we're going to add some lemon extract and just a little lemon zest."

"What do we do with that," he frowned.

"We pour it over the cakes," I smiled.

"Oh," he blinked.

"It makes it moister and gives it an even stronger lemon taste."

"That makes sense," he said. "Do you think we could refrigerate it to cool like we'd do the cakes?"

"Probably," I frowned thoughtfully. "But you need to pour it onto the cakes while they're still warm."

"Okay," he nodded.

I hummed around the kitchen checking on the pot roast they were testing and looking at the cheesecakes they had made. I turned the heat down on the pot roast. "Too high," I said with a smile. "Truthfully, I think it's better if you cook everything but the potatoes and carrots the day before. Then in the morning, add them to the stock and you'll have a richer and thicker broth."

"Oh…I'll try it," he said making a note on a clip board by the stove.

"You know carrots turn to mush if you cook them too long, I think the potatoes get a little rubbery."

"Got it," he nodded.

We were just beginning to ice the cakes when Joe Morelli came into the kitchen with Tree on his tail.

"Stephanie," he nodded. "How are you?"

"I'm good," I said turning my attention back to the cake.

"I hear congratulations are in order," he said a little tightly.

"Yep, you heard right," I smiled and again focused on the cake.

"So, your husband says you didn't see anything. Did you see anything?"

"I didn't see shit," I admitted. "I heard the explosion and then I was against the wall with Ranger and Lester acting as human shields. The first time I saw anything else was when they were taking Mitch to the ambulance."

He nodded, "all right then. I'll get back to the crime scene."

Smith and Tree watched him go with suspicious looks on their faces.

"Go ahead and say it," I smiled.

"He's got a thing for you," Tree growled.

I laughed, "Don't worry. We have a history. We were together off and on for a couple of years beginning when I was five and ending last summer."

"That's a long history," Smith said studying my down bent head.

"Yes it is," I agreed. "But it's history. I'm not interested in more."

"He is," he said quietly.

"He has a wife and child. He needs to be interested in them," I shrugged. "He's getting better."

Ranger and Mitch walked into the kitchen as we finished icing the last cake. I walked straight to Mitch and put my arms around him. He picked me up in his hug. "I'm so glad you're okay," I whispered.

"Me too," he said softly and put me to my feet.

I swallowed and put my arms around Ranger's waist. "We need to figure this out before someone dies."

"I know Babe," he sighed.

Yea, he just threw Babe out every now and then. I think sometimes he was testing the waters and other times he just forgot. But I wasn't going to call him on it unless he started abusing it before I got the words. Besides, he knew what the problem was. There was no point in beating a dead horse.

"But before we do that," he said with a smile, "how about cake?"

"I never thought I'd live to see the day," Mike shook his head in shock.

"I'm telling you…it's his Achilles' heel," I grinned.

"I'll remember this for future reference," he laughed.

We all moved out to the dining room with cake and coffee and sat around testing the cakes. They all tasted the same. They were perfect.

"That's it," Tree groaned.

"It's the step we left out," Smith winced. "The melted butter with lemon extract and zest, it turns out that's a really important step."

"I won't leave it out again," Tree sighed. "It's perfect."

I grinned, "My mother will be so pleased that you like it. You know, if you want more recipes, you should pick her brain. She's got a bunch of good ones."

"Most of them have gravy on them," Ranger said dryly.

"And she'll bring your grandmother with her," Lester said with a grin.

"What's wrong with her grandmother," Hawk asked.

"Well, she's an old pervert," Lester howled with laughter. "Every time I go anywhere near her she's grabbing at my ass and my junk. The woman is a hundred and seventy if she's a day and she's the horniest thing I've ever met in my life. I tell you what, if I'd met her at some time when we were both this age I am now, I'd probably be in traction."

"You're exaggerating," Bull gaped.

"Sadly, he's not," Ranger sighed.

"As bad as Lester has it or as anyone employed by him has had it, Ranger's had it much worse," I grinned. "Grandma refers to Ranger as 'the package'."

The men burst into laughter.

"Yep," I nodded, "and she's just waiting for the perfect moment to cop a good feel."

Mitch laughed, "I saw her get close a couple of times on the ship…on the dance floor."

"Yea, well I hope she doesn't succeed," I said wryly. "Ranger says he'll shoot her if she touches his dick."

"That was before we were married," he said shaking his head.

"So now its okay," I raised a brow.

He sighed," no…I just mean that I can't shoot my wife's grandmother. I think it was in our vows somewhere."

"Right," I shook my head.

"Okay…enough of this," Mike sat back with his coffee. "As entertaining as it is, we have a bigger issue."

"Yea," I sighed.

"I think and TPD may not agree with me, but I think I'm not the target."

"Stephanie doesn't think you're the target either," Ranger sighed.

"Who do you think it is," Mitch eyed me.

"I think it's one of you three," I waved my hand between Ranger, Mitch and Lester with a sigh. "I think we eliminated everyone on my side of the fence before our reception, don't you agree gentlemen?"

"Oh yea," Mitch nodded.

"That means…it's one of you," I sighed. "I don't like it, but it's my gut feeling."

"Do you have any gut feeling that narrows it down," Ranger asked.

"Not yet," I said shaking my head.

He sighed, "For those of you who don't know Stephanie, she's got the instincts of a first class hunter. She can smell guilt. I mean it. She can smell a target on someone after a small amount of time. She…she's pretty gifted."

"I don't know why I couldn't just be able to paint or something normal like that," I sighed.

"You know why," Mitch said wiping the table with his napkin. "So, it's one of us. We were all three there at all the occurrences. That does make it suspicious."

"Well, Lester wasn't in the vehicle with us when we were shot at," I reminded him.

"Then it's probably me or Mitch," Ranger nodded.

"I suspect so," I nodded.

"No gut more than that," he frowned.

"Sorry," I sighed.

"What's our next step then," Mitch asked. "Cause I got to tell you, I've done some extreme shit and…I'm pretty sure that there are people out there who'd be interested in erasing me."

"Yea," Ranger nodded.

"From an outsider's perspective," Smith said softly, "it could be either of you. You've both got tremendous reputations. You're both known for getting the job done both when in the military and afterwards. I don't know who's after you, but I'd be willing to bet it was from that time."

"From Afghanistan," Mitch frowned.

"Or sometime since that you've been in government work," he nodded.

"Great," Mitch sighed and leaned back with a wince, "then it's about a decade plus of history to dig through."

Ranger grimaced, "that's going to take some serious research. Not all of my files are open. A lot of what I've done is…eyes only. I mean it's as though it didn't exist."

"Mine too," Mitch frowned.

"Then we're going to have to pick your brains," I said pushing back from the table. "We have no other choice. I want this solved before one of you is dead." I gathered the plates and forks and headed for the kitchen.

I heard Smith say, "I think she means it."

"She does," Ranger nodded.

"You've got your hands full man," he laughed.

"Tell me something I don't know," Ranger said in amusement.

I let them chat a little longer and then walked to them. "Do we have a ride? Our last one is crunch metal."

"It will be here in two minutes," Ranger nodded.

"Along with our escorts," I raised a brow.

"Yep," he agreed.

"Good," I nodded. "I have my first appointment with my new OBGYN tomorrow and I'd like a little sleep if possible."

"We'll be home in thirty minutes," he promised.

"Okay…I'll just go freshen up," I said heading for the bathroom.

Lester got up to follow me.

"You let me go to the kitchen by myself."

"There's a guard on that door."

"But not on the ladies room door," I raised a brow.

"Not till I get there," he grinned.

When I exited the restroom they were waiting for me by the door. They formed a man wall and walked us to the car. Then the all of us tooled out toward the house.

When we got home I went straight upstairs and took a long shower. I cried while I was in there. I didn't want either of them dead, but I sure as hell didn't want my husband dead.

I left the bathroom and climbed into bed in my pajamas and just lay there with my hand on my belly. "Don't worry bean, your daddy is going to be fine. He's very resilient and he's very clever."

"Thank you," Ranger said dropping to the bed beside me. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," I sighed.

"Good," he laid his head on my belly and kissed it. "How about you bean?"

"Bean is good," I smiled.

"Are you sure you're both fine?"

"I'll be more okay when I know that you're not in danger anymore," I said running my fingers through his hair.

"I know," he said softly.

"I don't want to lose you," I whispered.

He rose up and kissed me softly and tugged me into his arms. "You're not going to. I promise you. We are in it for the long haul."

I sighed. I wanted to believe him. I really did. But he didn't have a bat cave until we bought this house. I wasn't sure he was a super hero any more.


	17. Chapter 17

I've gotten really used to doctors. I really have. In my experience, they're usually amused and amusing. They're also usually around fifty and grey haired and male. That is until I met Ranger's family. Celia is female and thirty-three. Rafe is male and he's only thirty-six, but he doesn't have grey hair. And of course none of the triplets have grey hair and they're all female.

When I walked into the waiting room at Celia's offices, or the offices of Jones, Chambers, Dickens, and Schulman. I was immediately put at ease. The offices were beautiful, friendly and inviting. There was comfortable seating and a complete enclosed play area for children. I suppose there are a lot of repeat customers there. That's a good thing.

I approached the receptionist with a smile and she looked up with a smile on her face that immediately changed to shock and then faltered to a trembling attempt at a smile with the beginnings of a hunk trance and a tiny bit of drool. Somewhere in my mind I was now referring to it as the 'Rangeman Effect', you know like the Butterfly Effect but easier to prove.

"I'm Stephanie Manoso, I have an appointment."

"Celia's sister-in-law," she said automatically taking the insurance card I offered her.

"Right," I nodded.

"Your husband," she nodded toward Ranger who was standing behind me.

"Yes," I nodded.

"And the others," she craned around me and blinked again and again.

I turned around to see six other men standing behind Ranger. I turned back with a slight smile and a sigh, "they're employees of my husbands and friends of mine. They're a little over protective."

"I see," she said and handed me a clipboard. "If you'll just fill all of these forms out we'll call you in a few minutes. Don't forget to sign the HIPPA agreement. Today is your first appointment so you'll have a brief consult with Dr. Jones because she handled you in the hospital and then you'll meet your OBGYN Dr. Dickens and continue from there."

I nodded, "thank you." I walked over to sit in the waiting room to fill out the forms. I was almost finished with them when I realized that there was a curious hush over the room. I looked up to see dozens of pairs of feminine eyes, and quite a few children's wide gazes, all focused on the men with me. I shook my head with a smile. One thing is for sure, touring with this entourage was always an adventure.

I glanced over at the men and found Woody shifting in his chair. "What's wrong?"

"They're staring at us," Woody hissed.

"Yep…you should be used to that," I said signing my name at the bottom of the form.

"They're all pregnant," he hissed again.

I looked around the room and grinned. "Well, you know what Gabe said about pregnancy hormones?"

He blinked and turned to the other guys. They all had this 'oh shit' expression on their faces. Yea, I was laughing on the inside.

I took the forms up to the desk and retrieved my card and paid my co-pay. I didn't even get to walk back to my seat before they called my name.

Ranger got to his feet and followed and the other guys got up as well.

The nurse held up her hand and laughed, "Gentlemen, only the father gets to come back here."

The shuffled back to their seats and sat down and looked down at their hands. Yea, I laughed inside some more.

The nurse led us to an open office and stopped in front of the door, "Mr. and Mrs. Manoso are here."

"Great," Celia rushed forward and pulled me into her hug. "Well, you look none the worse for wear. How is the morning sickness?"

"It's pretty much confined to when I just get up for the moment," I smiled. "After a few days of all day morning sickness, this isn't so bad."

"Good," she nodded and reached for Ranger, "Ricardo…you look better. How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine," he nodded.

"I don't believe you little brother," she shook her head, "but I'll let it go. Dr. Riley keeps me up on your antics."

"Great," he shook his head.

"Well Stephanie, this is Dr. Dickson," she said turning me to face a young woman.

"Hi," I held my hand out to her. In my head I was already mentally assessing her as a future mate for one of the guys I knew. She was attractive with long red hair pulled back from her face at the nape of her neck and dark blue eyes. I couldn't tell much about her body under her white doctor's coat, but she was pretty. She was a little shorter than me and she had legs. They looked like good legs. I'm not much of a judge of that. She smiled and raised a single brow at me easily. Wow, she was good.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Mrs. Manoso. Now before you get me married off, let's check you out."

"You're one of those mind readers," I said with narrowing eyes.

"It's not so much that as much as your face is very expressive," she grinned. "You can see just what you're thinking."

"I usually say it out loud," I admitted with some chagrin. "I don't mean to. I have verbal diarrhea."

"There's no cure for that. You have to live with it. God knows I've learned to."

I laughed. "I like you."

"Come on," she smiled. "Thank you Celia. I've got this."

"How old is she," Ranger hissed behind us.

"Don't worry about him," I shook my head.

"I wasn't," she said. She handed me a cup with a lid. "You know the drill. The bathroom is right there."

I nodded and went into the bathroom and peed into the cup and put it through the little window. I washed my hands and left the little room. When I exited she was waiting for me and Ranger was just joining her.

"Okay…scales first."

I groaned. "Is this really necessary?"

"Every time you come in, they're going to weigh you. It's not weight watchers. You won't be judged. We're just assessing how well you're eating and whether the baby is probably getting the right nutrients."

I sighed and stepped on the scales. I watched the little numbers move until they stopped at 108. I blinked. No way. I haven't weighed 108 since college. And I probably weighed less since I was fully clothed.

"What are you worried about anyway," she shook her head. "If anything you're a little thin."

"That's what I keep saying," Ranger nodded.

I rolled my eyes.

"You're going to have to gain some weight for your baby."

"I know," I sighed and followed her down the hall. "I just don't want to balloon up. My sister gained almost seventy pounds with her last one."

"Do you think you're likely to do that," she asked as we entered an examination room.

"No," I shook my head. "But I've never been pregnant before, so I can't be sure."

"All right, we'll monitor it. Why don't you go ahead and strip down to the lovely paper gown we've provided for you and we'll get this exam under way. I suppose Mr. Manoso will be attending throughout?"

I raised a brow at Ranger and he nodded.

"I'd say that's a yes," she smiled. "All right, I'll be back in about ten minutes. Have a seat on the table and cover up with the lovely paper blanket."

"I think your opinion of the paper clothing is a little unrealistic," I said seriously.

"Its how I get my jollies," she grinned and left us alone.

"How old is she," Ranger hissed as soon as she left.

"I don't know," I shook my head and pulled my long sleeved tee shirt over my head. "I don't care as long as she delivers the bean without any problems. We all start somewhere, besides your sister trusts her to deliver our baby.

"My sister owes me for some crap I did to her when I was a kid," he said pointedly.

"She won't take it out on me."

"No," he bit the inside of his mouth, "probably not."

"Stop it," I shook my head and tossed him my jeans. "Make yourself useful."

When she returned in exactly ten minutes I was on the table and Ranger was sitting to the side in a chair looking a little bit uncomfortable.

"Okay, Mr. Manoso, have you ever been in the room during a pelvic exam before?"

He swallowed, "no."

"Well, then this is going to be an adventure for you. This is how it's going to happen. We're going to drop the top half of your wife's gown and I'm basically gonna feel her up. I'm looking for any abnormalities in the breast tissue. Then we're going to cover that half up and I'm going to press on her belly a little bit. Then we're going to uncover some of the bottom half. Then I'm going to take this," she held up a rather large object that was rounded on either side with tong like attributes, "and put it inside your wife's vagina and have a look see. Are you going to be okay with that?"

He looked a little pale, but he nodded to the affirmative.

"All right," she smiled. "Let's get this party started."

After she checked me out, a nurse took me to the lab and they drew some blood. They also drew some of Ranger's blood. They wanted to check the RH factors or something. Then the nurse took us back to Dr. Dickens's office and left us there to wait. Ranger saw her diploma on the wall and studied it.

"I'm twenty-nine," she said from the doorway. "I graduated top of my premed class at Vanderbilt when I was nineteen. I finished my degree at Johns Hopkins where I was still at top of my class. I know what I'm doing Mr. Manoso. Your wife is in capable hands. I've delivered several hundred babies so far."

He offered her his hand, "I'm Ricardo."

She smiled and took it. "I understand your concern. This is your wife and your child. You should be careful. I'd worry if you didn't care."

He nodded and took his seat.

"Okay," she walked around and sat on the edge of her desk in front of us. "Stephanie's electrolytes are a little off. She needs more fluids. I realize that you've been sick a lot, but you have to keep trying to drink the water. I recommend that you stay away from soft drinks if you can. Also, you should cut back on the caffeine. Can you stand decaf?"

I groaned.

"It's best for the baby," she laughed. "You can have one serving of caffeine a day. I don't care if it's one soda or one cup of coffee. You need to drink milk. Can you do that?"

"It's hard because of…"

"I know, but you said your nausea was confined to the am now. So you need to drink milk. You can make it milk shakes, cheese, ice cream, whatever dairy you want to get it from, you need six to eight servings a day. This baby is going to leech calcium and iron off of you big time. So get plenty of dairy and plenty of iron. That could be liver," she laughed at the expression on my face, "well; you could do it with broccoli."

"That would work," I nodded.

"And of course you need plenty of rest. You should continue to exercise. You're in good shape and you'll have an easier delivery if you continue to exercise. I'll prescribe prenatal vitamins. Just live your life and if the nausea gets bad again, try eating several small meals instead of three large ones. You know…graze."

"I can graze," I assured her.

She grinned, "Yea…most of us can. Drink lots of water. Oh…and as far as sex goes," she grinned and her eyes twinkled, "you can continue to have sex as long as you feel comfortable and it doesn't cause you any pain. And no…the baby won't see it."

Ranger laughed.

"Do you have any other questions?"

"I don't think so," I shook my head.

"Okay," she handed Ranger the script for the vitamins. "Get some fluids into her."

"Will do," he nodded.

"I want to see you back here in one month. Stop at the desk on the way out and they'll fix the appointment for you. If you have any questions at all, don't hesitate to call, but it will be easier if you email them to me unless it's an emergency." She handed Ranger her card, "my email address is there. I'll get back to you pretty quickly. Now, we just have a couple of more things to discuss," she walked around her desk and sat down. "Have you thought about the delivery?"

"Yes, I want to do it naturally," I said adamantly.

"And will you be in the delivery room Ricardo?"

He swallowed, "yes."

She laughed, "You don't seem too sure of that. Is she making you be in the delivery room?"

He winced and took a deep breath, "I'll be there."

She nodded. "And will you want to know the sex of your baby at any time before delivery," she asked.

"I don't," I bit my lip. "I would like to be surprised."

"Yes," Ranger smiled at me and took my hand, "we want to be surprised."

"Good," she nodded. "And will you be breast feeding?"

"I'd like to," I nodded.

"And if it's a boy, will it be circumcised," she said and her gaze shifted to Ranger.

"Yes," he nodded.

"Okay…I see you're both Catholic so the question of a Bris is out," she closed the chart. "You should choose a pediatrician as soon as possible. Meet with him or her and make sure they agree with your basic philosophy of child rearing. Give them my number and I'll communicate with them when your expected due date is and what we're expecting at the point of delivery. If you'd like some recommendations, I'd be happy to give you some, but Ricardo you've got a family full of doctors, you may prefer to ask them."

"I'd rather have all the information and not just the biased," he smiled.

"Good answer," she agreed. "I'll email you some of my choices. I'll see you in a month and if you have questions…"

"Email you," Ranger nodded.

"Do you feel comfortable going forward with me as the OBGYN or would you prefer someone else. I will not take it personally."

"No…I like you," I said adamantly. "Can't I stay with you?"

Ranger laughed, "We're fine with you Dr. Dickson."

"Thank you," she smiled. "My name is Kate."

"Thank you Kate," he smiled. "I feel like Stephanie is in good hands."

"Thank you," she smiled. "Okay…go live your lives."

I laughed and got to my feet and shook her hand. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," she said. "Just follow the green arrows. They'll take you out of here."

"Thanks," I nodded and we headed out following those arrows. "We're gonna need these at the new Rangeman tunnel system," I grinned at Ranger. "That way we'll know what tunnel we're in without putting signs up…you know if something happens."

"That's good," he nodded and walked past reception and pulled out his phone while I made my return appointment.

"Mrs. Manoso," the reception whispered.

"Yes," I smiled.

"Do you mind if I ask you something," she dashed a quick look toward the guys and then leaned forward.

"Of course not, what would you like to know?"

"Will they always be with you," she cast her eyes toward the men in black in the waiting room. "I mean, I know your husband probably will be. But will they be with you?"

"Them or some like them," I nodded fighting the urge to giggle.

"Oh," she blinked. "Why?"

"They like to think they're my body guards," I grinned. "They're protecting me. They're very protective."

"Oh," she nodded.

"Do they make you uncomfortable?"

"Oh no," she blushed. "I just thought I might wear some lip gloss or something next time."

I grinned, "You do that."

The parade of men in black gathered around Ranger and I and we left the medical offices. I was put into the back of the SUV and Ranger climbed in beside me.

"What's so funny?"

"The receptionist wanted to know if there would always be men with me," I laughed.

"What did you say," he asked.

"I said yes," I grinned. "She's going to wear lip gloss next time."

He burst out laughing. "Good for her."

"Yea," I nodded. "You looked a little green during my pelvic. Are you okay?"

"You know Stephanie…I've thought about using objects on you before, but somehow in my mind, it wasn't like that."

I laughed so hard that I would have wet my pants if I had not just gone.

"It's not that funny," he said dryly.

"Oh yea it is," I giggled gasping for air.

"I tell ya," Mitch said glancing into the rear view mirror, "the two of you make it easy for a man to choose to NOT get involved with a woman. I mean, is what you have a normal marriage?"

"It's normal for us," I shrugged. "You'll have one that's normal for you."

"I can't wait," he said sarcastically.

"Aw come on Mitch, we're just getting to the good part."

"Right," he said turning onto the busy road in front of the hospital, "your idea of the good part and mine…they're two different things."

"You never know," I smiled up at my husband. "It could be the same thing and you just don't know it yet."

"Yea…it could be," Ranger said softly and leaned over to kiss me.

Mitch just shook his head.

I understand it. At one time I didn't understand what the good part was either. But now I do.


	18. Chapter 18

We drove to the Rangeman offices next and parked in the underground garage. We took the elevator up to the fifth floor and went to Ranger's office. Ranger leafed through some paperwork and signed some things and I went through some samples of drapery material and bed spreads and that sort of thing.

Tank joined us, "how did it go Steph? Are you good and pregnant?"

"Well," I shrugged. "I'm pregnant. It must be good and pregnant because I weigh less than I've weighed in years. That's a good thing."

"Somehow I thought pregnancy was supposed to put on pounds and not take it off," Tank shook his head.

"Well, I'm not most women. My body is probably attempting to make room for a gigantic Manoso baby. Look at him," I said and waved my hand toward Ranger, "he's enormous. Do you think delivery of his progeny is going to be easy? I think not," I shook my head.

Tank chuckled.

"Laugh it up big guy, but poor little Lula who may have a few pounds on me…"

"She's a whole person in weight bigger than you," Tank grinned.

"Maybe so," I rolled my eyes, "but you're the size of a small building. I'm thinking that's gonna hurt."

He looked at the ceiling with pursed lips thoughtfully, "I expect it will hurt."

I shook my head, so much for men's compassion for women and childbirth.

"How did he handle it?"

"He didn't pass out or throw up or anything. He was a little green."

"You know I'm right here, don't you," Ranger asked and both brows went up instead of just one. Yep, he's definitely sprained or broken his brow raise.

"Of course I know you're right there honey," I said sweetly. I opted on a quick change of subject to soothe him. "Instead of making all the rooms exactly the same, can't we mix it up?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean let the drape and the bedspread designs be random. You know, I'll shop for them."

He shook his head, "you're pregnant."

"This is one trip to Bed Bath and Beyond," I rolled my eyes. "This is not shopping."

He sighed, "Fine. Is that okay with you Tank?"

"Hell yea," he nodded. "At least when they get in their room they'll be sure it's theirs if we do that. The way it is now…hell, I got lost a dozen times on those nights…"

"When your body wasn't a temple," I giggled.

"Something like that," he agreed with a little smile.

"In any case," I smiled. "It's a good idea."

"It is definitely a good idea," he agreed.

Lester tapped on the frame of the open doorway and the upper half of his body seemed to just bend into the room, "uh…Ranger…you've got company."

"What kind of company?"

"Government company," he said shaking his head. "It's George and Robert and they really insist on seeing you."

"They can insist till…" I crossed my arms and furrowed my brow and did my most uncompromising pout face.

"Babe," Ranger shook his head. "I'm not going back in the wind. Don't worry. I don't care what they want. I'll just blow them off."

I took a deep breath and scowled. "You better."

"I will," he got up and came around to kiss my head, "I promise."

"If you're in there for more than ten minutes I'm coming in with pink and blue swatches and I'm going to ask about nurseries," I glared up at him.

He laughed, "You do that."

"I mean it," I hissed.

"I know you do," he chuckled. He turned to Lester, "where?"

"Conference room on two," he said.

"I'll be right back," he assured me and kissed my head again before leaving the room.

I took a deep breath and sighed my most put upon sigh, "what do they want."

"Probably what you think they want," Tank said shaking his head. "But Ranger won't do it. He likes his life. He won't risk losing you again. He's done making mistakes. He promised both of us."

I sighed, "He better stick to it."

"He will," he said seriously.

Ranger's absence and our decision to shop for the linens gave me a lot of time to just pace. Yea, I tried going on the internet and shopping, but I couldn't get into it. When I can't get into shopping, you know something is wrong. Something just didn't feel right about them being here. He'd given them the brush off, it should have been enough.

Tank was sure that Ranger would say no. I wasn't sure. I also wasn't sure that they were here for that in the first place. I mean that gut feeling that I had went all the way to my famous tingle. By the way, the famous tingle feels much like when your foot goes to sleep and you realize it and have to get up and walk it off. It's like that. Small tingles are just pins and needles rushing over my flesh; big tingles are just full out pokes. This was just a little bit more than a little tingle.

I didn't know why they were here. The way I figured it, even if the tingle was because my entire body went to sleep and I just needed to walk it off, they were still not here for any reason that was good for me. Either they were trying to recruit my husband back into their dark and treacherous folds, or they wanted him to give or suggest a replacement. Nobody I cared about should work for those guys. They were trouble. Well, George definitely was. Robert wasn't so bad.

I also didn't know if the whole reason we were in trouble this time wasn't in some way connected to them and their nefarious past deeds. After all, someone was trying to kill someone who used to be in their pocket. Maybe someone they wronged, or set right, as the case may be was after their revenge and was going to take it out on my baby daddy. That wasn't a good thing. Not to mention the fact that it would definitely tell them that Ranger wasn't coming back no way, no how if he was dead. They probably didn't like that. They were probably concerned. They were annoying me.

I waited and paced for forty minutes. That's four times the amount of time that I promised. I grabbed a couple of swatches. Then I went down to the second floor to see Lester and Cal blocking the door in their usual 'take no prisoners' stance. "Did he tell you not to let me in?"

"Nope," Cal shook his head looking remarkably like a guard at Buckingham Palace even with his bald and tattooed head. His stance didn't change and his lips barely moved. "This is standard procedure when they're here."

"Have you heard anything," I asked.

They shifted uncomfortably.

"You don't want to tell me what you may have heard," I glared at them.

This resulted in more uncomfortable looking shifting.

"He's not signing a contract, is he?"

"Oh hell no," Lester shook his head and immediately dropped his captain of the guard stance. "He hasn't and he won't."

"Are you sure about that," I asked and narrowed my eyes to study him.

"He's not," Lester groaned. "I swear. I'd kill him myself."

"Not if I get to him first," I hissed.

"I can't make it all out," Cal sighed. "I can only hear bits of it."

"Like what," I asked.

"Someone at Rangeman is apparently a target for international terrorists."

"Right," I rolled my eyes.

"I mean it. If you want to know more, hit the com."

I nodded and went to the sixth floor where the com was now located. I walked in and Gabe and Hal were on monitors. "Gentlemen, are you watching the conference room on two?"

Gabe tapped one of the monitors.

"Is there audio?"

He nodded and hit a couple of switches.

"I hear what you're saying George, I just don't believe you. His past is unknown to almost everyone and that includes me, but he's a good man and I don't believe he'd do anything to draw attention from anyone like you're suggesting. He's not a double agent for God's sake."

I gasped and Gabe and Hal's eyes widened.

"Who are they talking about," I asked.

Gabe turned the volume down and shook his head, "they haven't said a name. They showed him a piece of paper with a name on it. They know we're listening. They arranged the paper so I couldn't zoom in on it. They don't want us to know."

I sighed heavily. "Nobody here is like that."

"We know," Hal said putting his arm around my waist. "It's nice that you do too."

"I do," I assured him. "They're barking up the wrong tree."

"I agree," he nodded.

"I will find out who they're talking about though and I will set it straight," I said and bit my lip thoughtfully.

"You're our hero," Gabe grinned. "Anyone that's fearless with Ranger is my hero."

"I'm not fearless," I said softly, "he just can't hurt me with this."

"Understood," he nodded.

"What do I do now? I told Ranger I'd intrude after ten minutes, it's been an hour."

"You're pregnant, you intrude," Gabe grinned. "You have all kinds of reasonable excuses. You're tired. You're spotting. That should scare the crap out of him. You have a craving and it must be satisfied right now. I mean it, name it…you can use it."

"You're right," I agreed. I marched back down the stairs to the second floor and went straight to the door and barged in.

"I am so sorry to intrude," I looked at the men forlornly and sighed. "I tried to hold out, but you promised me that we'd be home by now," I sighed and looked sadly at my husband. "I'm so tired honey. This pregnancy stuff is exhausting."

Ranger smirked and put his hand out to me.

I walked to him and slid onto this lap. "I'm sorry gentlemen. I keep interrupting your meetings."

Robert laughed, "Its okay. You're a lovely interruption."

"Thank you," I smiled sweetly at him.

"I didn't realize you were pregnant. Congratulations."

"Thank you," I beamed. "We're very excited."

"Do you know what you're having? I mean is it a boy or a girl?"

I smiled, "right now it looks like a kidney bean. Ranger says he can't tell if it's a boy or a girl because it doesn't have a bow or a penis."

Robert howled with laughter and Ranger delivered a small pinch to my ass.

"I have three kids," he grinned. "I have two boys and one girl and my daughter has me wrapped around her little finger. She's the baby of course. I swear I had no idea how much joy they were going to bring into my life when we decided to start having them. I love my wife and she said it's time for kids and it was. She's a very smart woman. What made you decide to do it now?"

"We didn't," I shook my head. "God did. We were taking precautions."

He chuckled, "well, sometimes those are the best ones. My daughter wasn't planned. I don't regret a thing about her. George you have a girl, aren't they great?"

"Yea, they're great," he said coolly. "Well, Ranger, we'll be in touch."

The two men left pretty quickly after that. Robert left with a warm handshake, George with a scowl. Yea, I don't like George much.

"He's an ass," I rolled my eyes.

"Who is," Ranger asked kissing my neck.

"George is," I said seriously.

Lester stalked into the room. "Why is George such a prick?"

"He's about the work," Ranger shrugged.

"Do you think he's like that with his family," I frowned.

"I think so," Lester nodded. He started mocking George with his best impression. "Margaret, I expect my dinner on the table at 1845 hours precisely. There is no excuse for tardiness. Tonight we shall eat dinner; you shall clean up after while I watch the news. We shall watch one hour of prime time television before we go upstairs and have missionary sex for twelve minutes precisely. You may then go to sleep and I shall work for a in my office until 2115 hours. Then I shall come upstairs and go to sleep."

"Geez," I winced, "all she gets is twelve minutes? There's no way she's satisfied sexually."

"I doubt he is," Lester said rolling his eyes and casting a thumb toward the door.

I giggled. "Well, I'm really glad you got out when you did Ranger. Twelve minutes just isn't enough for a good earth shattering orgasm."

"It can be," he said nibbling on my neck.

"Not in front of the children," I said with a smile.

"Dr. Davidson said it was okay," he nuzzled.

"Not in front of Lester," I grinned.

"Oh…right," he nodded.

Lester rolled his eyes and left us alone in the room.

"Can we go home," I sighed.

"In a little bit. We're waiting for Mitch to get back."

"Where's Mitch," I frowned.

"He's doing something for me at the new site. He's checking out some decisions we've made recently."

I raised a brow in question.

"You know, painting the tunnels different colors to give an indication which one you're in and to make sure the tunnel to where the boats are going to be housed is being done right."

"Ah," I nodded.

"If you're really that sleepy we can go upstairs and take a nap."

"Do you need one," I frowned.

"I am a little tired," he admitted.

"You've done too much today," I fretted. "It's been too stressful. I blame George."

"I blame George too," he chuckled. "So why don't we go upstairs and nap until Mitch finishes what he's doing?"

"Fine with me," I said getting off his lap. "Let reception know that George and Robert are to be ushered out of the building immediately if they ever return."

"I can't do that," he said turning off the light to the conference room as we left it.

"I can," I glared.

He laughed, "I can't treat them like that. Not only do I still do some business for them even though it's nothing like before, they also control my pension."

I laughed, "Like you're going to need it."

"You never know."

"I have a few million you can borrow if you need it," I said seriously.

He laughed, "It will be okay."

When we got up to seven, I couldn't resist asking him what they were talking about.

"So…I snooped."

"Am I supposed to be surprised?"

"On your visitors and the conversation," I said seriously.

"You were on the com," he asked.

"Yep," I nodded. "There is no one employed by this company that is now or has ever been a double agent in truth. If anyone here was working undercover, they were doing it for our side."

"I agree," he nodded.

"Do you think they're telling the truth?"

"I don't know," he sighed. "I had a bad feeling about the whole thing. I mean, it seemed like I wasn't getting the whole story. I am going to get Gabe to run me a copy to my email of the meeting. I want to see and hear it again. Something just didn't set well with me."

"Maybe because it sounded like they were trying to railroad someone that you trust?"

"That could be it," he said and opened his phone, "Yo."

I rolled my eyes and smiled.

"We're on our way," he said closing the phone. "We can go home now. Mitch is here."

"Yippee," I grinned.

He just shook his head with a smile.

We were almost home and I was halfway dozing on Ranger when things went wrong. The ride to our house is a little bit out of the way. The road is winding and there's nothing much on it. It's a fairly narrow road. Two Humvees would have trouble negotiating a pass situation. Because there wasn't much that way and it dead ended at the location of the new Rangeman facility, there wasn't even that much traffic. If someone was on our road, there's a chance they were either coming to see us, or they were up to no good.

I noticed that Mitch had changed speed when we took a curve and lifted my head.

"Keep down," Mitch hissed.

"Shit," I sighed.

Ranger pushed me down in his lap and fell over me.

"This is getting old," I said seriously.

"You're not the only one who feels that way," he muttered.

"There's no way I can make the compound without them acquiring us," Mitch said. "I'm going to take evasive action. Be prepared for a major bump. Buckle up Les."

"I'm buckled," he grimaced.

When we hit the next curve, he didn't take it. Instead we were in the field. This particular field ran by our property and straight down to the river. We had four wheel drive and would be all right in the field especially since we hadn't had that much rain this spring so far. I could only hope whoever was chasing us wasn't so well prepared.

"Fuck," Mitch bit out. "Hold on."

The ride got even rougher. I could feel my stomach beginning to lurch and I knew the odds that I was going to get through this without embarrassing myself by throwing everything up was pretty unlikely.

Lester was on the phone with TPD and the com. Both were dispatched to our rescue. The Rangeman guys would get there first. We had about four minutes before they would be at our position if Mitch continued at his rate of speed.

He suddenly turned to the right sharply and we slid a little bit before he picked up speed. I heard a crash behind us and he swerved and we were back on the road and heading toward our house again.

"How many," Ranger asked.

"One left," Mitch said seriously. "I lost one in the neighbor's stone fence."

"Aww…now see, I haven't even met them yet and they're going to hate us right off the bat."

"Stephanie," Ranger sighed.

"Look, we're civilized people."

"It's not our fault," he reminded me.

"Do I sound like that when I say it," I blinked.

"Yea," he grimaced.

"Crap," I sighed.

Mitch slowed long enough to flash his activator at the gate and the massive gates opened. Then he hit the emergency close on the activator and the gates began to swing closed when the back end of the truck wasn't even all the way through. We made it, but the bumper was demolished. He sped up to the house and into the garage.

"Get her inside," he barked and ran inside.

"Come on Steph," Ranger said.

"Are you coming with me," I blinked.

"No, I'm going to wait and hold them back," he said seriously.

"Do not die," I glared at him.

"I promise. You know where to go. Have you got your fob?"

"I've got it," I said and ran. I passed Mitch coming up the stairs with guns and ammunition. He passed me a glock and some ammo.

"Don't come out until one of us comes to get you. Do you hear me?"

I nodded and continued down as he continued up. I used the fob and pressed my hand to the biometric pane. The door opened and I went into the tunnel. The door closed behind me and I sank to the chaise someone had put down there just such an occasion.

I felt like we were at war. It felt like something different than anything I'd ever dealt with before. The police and Rangeman employees believed this was professional. They thought it was some government taking revenge.

I just wondered whose.


	19. Chapter 19

You don't hear much from the tunnel. Sometimes there's a muffled sound, but you can't really tell what's going on. You can't tell if there's gunfire or bombs going off or people you love dying. That's what sucks about being in the tunnel. I put my hand on my still flat belly protectively as I imagined the possibilities going on above me. There was a day when I would have fought to stay in the thick of things. There was a day when I would have glared at Ranger and demanded he let me stay. Oh, I'd still end up in the tunnel, or the ivory tower or the safe house, but I'd have fought to fight alongside my friends. But these days, I endured it without a whimper. If I was up there with them, I'd risk losing my baby. And the baby could be the only piece of her father that I'd ever have. After a while I got up and paced. I was happy that I hadn't lost the contents of my stomach with the motion of the car chase, but I was getting to a point where I'd need a toilet soon. I'd have to talk to Ranger about the possibility of installing plumbing and a little bathroom down here. It couldn't hurt. Given my delicate condition and our propensity to land in these situations, that could turn out to be a necessity.

While I waited I decided to kick around some names for the baby. I ruled out Edna and Ellen right away. I even ruled out Helen. Some of my mother's friends called her that on occasion, although I couldn't tell you why. Grandma Mazur also slipped and called her Helen on occasion. I don't know if she did it to piss Mom off, or if she was just a little senile. I dismissed Valerie and Mary Lou after that and then Lula with a grin. Plus there were a bunch of names from Ranger's side of the family as well I would probably need to consider. Abruptly I shook my head and smiled. This baby wouldn't be anyone other than who she was. The only expectations she'd have to live up to would be her own. There would be no burg life requirements. If she wanted to get tattoos and join a circus when she turned twenty-one, so be it. No…this baby would have to have her own name. It wouldn't be recycled. It would just be hers. Maybe her middle name could be Edna, Ellen or Louisa. I'd have to consider that one.

Lester is the one who got me out. He hugged me and followed me to the bathroom.

"So, was anyone hurt," I asked from behind the closed doors.

"No, they didn't breach the perimeter. Mitch and Ranger are talking to TPD and the feds. TPD called in the FBI."

"Really," I said as I exited the bathroom drying my hands.

"Really," he nodded. "They discussed the possibility that it could be revenge for something either of them have done for the government and decided that the feds were better equipped to handle this kind of assault."

"So the general consensus is that we're fucked," I sighed.

"Yea," he nodded with a crooked grin. "Marcos is up there with his new partner."

"You're kidding," I shook my head.

"He's just as cocky as ever. I don't know how Brian stood him."

"Me either," I sighed.

"He blames you for Brian's leave of absence."

I shook my head. "Yea, I made his mother a murderer," I rolled my eyes. "Marcos doesn't have good instincts."

"No, he doesn't," he sighed.

"That's what the FBI sent us? This is all that stands between Ranger and Mitch and a hit?"

He nodded.

"We're well and truly fucked," I sighed.

"They want to ask you some questions."

"I'm sure they do," I shook my head and started up the stairs. "But they better remember this is my house."

He grinned, "Ranger already reminded them."

"Good," I said and detoured at the top of the stairs for the kitchen. I immediately started brewing coffee in our big industrial pot. I remember telling Ranger that we wouldn't need it when he wanted to register for it. He got his way. He usually does. In any case…about the coffee urn, I was so wrong.

Lester and I started distributing coffee as soon as it was done and I'd put on another batch. Lester figured there were at least thirty people there, so we'd poured the entire first brewing knowing we'd need more.

When I got to Ranger, he was with Marcos. "Coffee," I smiled at my husband and bent to kiss his head. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," he said taking a cup.

"Agent Marcos," I offered him a cup.

"Thank you," he said taking it with a frown.

"Cream and sugar," I asked.

"Both," he nodded.

I passed him the cream and sugar and waited.

"Are you hungry," I asked Ranger.

"Not yet," he shook his head.

"What about pain? Are you in any pain?"

"No," he smiled and kissed my hand. "I'm fine. Don't worry about me."

I nodded and started to walk away.

"Mrs. Manoso, we do have some questions for you," Marcos said and raised his coffee cup.

"Sure," I nodded. "If you'd like to know that I saw nothing during any of the instances, I'd be happy to make it official. Ranger keeps covering me up."

"Nothing at all," he frowned.

"My husband is extremely protective," I smiled serenely, "especially now that we're expecting a child."

He blinked in surprise, "oh."

"I didn't see anything. I don't know anything. I doubt I can assist you in any way. But if you need me to say it more officially, I will." I headed back to the kitchen to reload the cream and sugar and fill a carafe with coffee before I headed back out.

Mitch was in the kitchen sipping coffee when I got there.

I put my tray down and let him wrap his arms around me.

"You're okay," he said softly in my hair.

"I'm good," I nodded.

"We are going to get through this Stephanie."

"I know," I sighed and pulled away. "You or Ranger must have pissed somebody off pretty bad."

"Probably both of us have," he shrugged. "It's the nature of the job. I've been out for a long time, but I've seen things. I'm just wondering what I saw or did that would bring someone after me now. As far as I know, that's my distant past. I've been out even longer than Ranger has."

"I know," I sighed. "None of it makes sense. Ranger's been out for months now. It seems that if someone wanted him dead from one of his excursions into the wind, they would have found a way to get it done before now. I mean, why wait?"

"That is what I was thinking."

"And he hasn't been in the news any more or less in the last couple of years. What about you?"

"No," he shook his head. "Before this job, you know I was on the cruise ship doing some undercover work, well you know all about that. Before that, I worked for the pop star. Before that I worked for TBI."

"TBI," I frowned

"Tennessee Bureau of Investigations," he nodded. "I was an investigator."

"And you didn't stir anything up then?"

"No," he shook his head. "I didn't even blend into anything the whole time I was with TBI. I was in the field, but I rode a desk as much as I did field work. That's why I don't do it anymore. It was boring. It's been six years since I've been in a position to stir anything up. I don't know where this is coming from."

I sighed. "Me either."

"You'll figure it out. You'll get one of your famous tingles and the whole thing will come together."

"Famous tingle," I muttered and picked my tray back up. Little did they know, I'd already had a famous tingle. It just didn't make sense.

Hours later it was just Ranger and I in the bed and we were finally alone. I was staring up the ceiling frowning thoughtfully.

"What's up Stephanie," he said rolling over to his elbow to look at me in the moonlight.

"Just something weird," I sighed.

"What kind of weird," he asked. "Are we talking tingle weird?"

"Yea," I sighed.

"When did you get it?"

"At the office this afternoon," I admitted. "I don't even know what it was about it. It was very unfocused, you know what I mean. I just felt that something was not right. I couldn't narrow it down. It's so friggin frustrating."

"Do you have any ideas," he asked brushing curls from my face.

I turned to him, "I have a feeling it's related to the government in some way. It's either something you did or Mitch did for them. It's something…something weird."

He shook his head, "you can't tell who the focus is?"

"No," I shook my head. "And I don't want to separate you to find out either just in case the one who is the target ends up dead."

He frowned and nodded thoughtfully. "So you're not picking up anything specific yet?"

"Not yet," I sighed.

"You will," he assured me.

"Will it be too late when I do," I asked.

"It never has been before," he said seriously.

"I think your idea of too late and my idea of too late may be different there buddy," I sighed. "Brian's mother is dead. Morty is dead. Dickie is dead."

"Honey that was the best outcome for all concerned except for Dickie and you have to know that," he said seriously.

"I don't know anything," I sighed. "I just know that I'm really tired of having people die in front of me."

"I don't like that part either," he said and moved closer to me and cuddled me against his big body. "But for now, go to sleep. You can't solve it now and you really need your rest."

I nodded and forced my body to relax till I felt Ranger's deep even breathing signifying that he was asleep.

If I had faith in my tingles, wouldn't I have acted sooner on the knowledge that Brian's mother was the murderer of the DA? If I trusted myself sooner, Morty would have never escaped Rangeman the second time and he'd be alive and in some mental health facility somewhere…probably making nice with Joyce Barnhardt. I took solace in the fact that there was nothing I could have done to save Dickie's life. And when did he stop being The Dick and just become Dickie again? I think it was the moment that Joyce told me that he'd tried to save my life at the expense of his own. In that moment, he ceased to be someone to be reviled and became instead a sad failure of my past. There was good in Dickie. He had proven it. Inside me, just like Anne Frank, I believed there was basically good in everyone. Hell, I couldn't even get my knickers in a twist over Joyce Barnhardt. She'd gone from being my mortal enemy to someone I felt sorry for. That probably wouldn't go over too well in her mind. If she knew what I was thinking now, she'd probably spend her free time plotting my ultimate downfall for when she was released. Not that she'd be released any time soon.

So if I trust my instincts this time, what would it solve? What would it change? First off, nobody and I do mean nobody would believe me. Well, they probably wouldn't have believed me about Joyce either. But at least with Joyce they'd have our past history to roll their eyes at. This time, there wasn't that. My instincts led me to one victim and one culprit. Well, not really one culprit. The culprit had hired the guns who were attempting to kill the victim. But…who knows.

I sighed and rolled to my side and Ranger rolled with me and curled around me. His big body created a shadow on the sheets around me from the moonlight. That shadow suggested that which was our reality. He would shield me from anything. I nestled back into him taking care to avoid the stitches in his abdomen. His hand tightened briefly and his body quickened to life down below. I smiled. That was mine. He was mine. And he would be mine forever.


	20. Chapter 20

The next morning started really slow. We had all been up really late the night before. Ranger had slept okay, but it had been really, really late when I had finally drifted off to sleep. My first hint of awareness wasn't the raging nausea that usually accompanied my morning these days, but instead the feel of Ranger's lips on the back of my neck and the smell of his freshly showered body as he curled around me.

"Are you going to sleep all day," he whispered as he scattered kisses over my neck and shoulders.

"Hmmm," I sighed and snuggled back into him. "You smell good."

"So do you," he murmured.

I smiled, "I haven't had a shower."

"So," he said and nibbled at the joint of my neck and shoulder.

I moaned, "You're cheating."

"I'm just waking you up," he chuckled.

"Will you wake me up like this every day from now on," I pleaded.

"I can do that," he agreed.

I could feel his smile against my neck. "What's on the agenda?"

"I have a doctor's appointment, then I have a therapist appointment, then we'll have lunch and then we have our first couple's therapy session."

"I thought you had to have a MRI before your doctor's appointment," I asked.

"Dr. Funny Bone called and asked me a bunch of questions. He decided that I was doing okay so I didn't have to have the MRI. He's probably going to take the stitches out today. Normally I'd just have Bobby do it, but he says under the circumstances he'd feel better if I came by."

"Okay," I sighed. "So, I need to get into the shower?"

"You do," he buried his face in my neck.

"I don't want to," I whined.

He grinned and kissed my neck. "What do you want to do?"

"What I'm doing right now," I sighed.

"If I promise you more of this later, will you get in the shower?"

"You drive a hard bargain Ricardo Manoso," I sighed and pulled away from him. "Fine, I'm getting in the shower."

"Thank you," he smiled.

"You're welcome," I smiled back.

Dr. Funny Bone Riley was pleased with Ranger's progress and told him that he'd be okay to return to light duty. Ranger was ecstatic. He hated feeling like he wasn't contributing. He hated being idle. I liked him being idle. I liked having him at home where I could keep an eye on him.

Mitch and I dropped Ranger off for his therapy session and found a parking place and just sat.

"Mitch," I began hesitantly.

"Uh-oh," he turned in the seat and smiled at me.

"Uh-oh," I blinked.

"The way you said that made me think this is going to be a tough conversation."

"Just for me," I sighed. "How long have you known that you were an unmentionable?"

"Pretty much as long as I can remember," he shrugged and let his eyes drift around. It looked, to an observer, as though he was just thinking and not really seeing what was there, but Mitch was watching. He was ever watchful.

"Oh," I bit my lip.

"For guys it's pretty much like that," he admitted. "My girl cousins, their abilities usually didn't show until they were into puberty. There's something about puberty that causes it in some girls. I have this one cousin Marianna; she can move things with her mind. You know, she's telekinetic. Anyway, she was moving things from the crib," he chuckled. "Aunt Deidre had to make sure all the bottles were taken from the room and washed immediately to keep her from getting bad milk. She was a handful from the beginning." He shook his head with a smile. "Of course, these days she's like Diesel. She's a hunter. She's a bad ass. She has abilities I can't even imagine."

"Oh," I bit my lip.

"Why are you asking Steph? I know there's a reason."

"I just wonder why I… I mean, how do I know if what I have been able to do in the past is real or just a fluke?"

"You can be tested," he said seriously. "You should be tested. Diesel can test you."

"What does that test involve," I frowned at him.

He laughed. "Don't worry; it's not like a doctor's visit. He puts you into a room and reads you."

"How do we know he hasn't done it already?"

"We don't," he shrugged. "He wouldn't necessarily tell you that you are."

"Then what's the point," I sighed.

"You need to know," he frowned.

"I need to know," I said softly. "I need to know if I should trust these tingles more than I do. I need to know if I should act on them sooner. I need to know. I need to know so I can prevent more deaths."

He nodded. "I'll give him a call."

"Thanks," I sighed.

For the remainder of our wait we talked about buying furniture for Rangeman and the facilities. I was pretty excited about it. Gaby knew we were coming and had loaded up. We had trucks standing by to do the pickup. He would have people pulling things down as fast as we selected them. I had a list. I thought we might clean him out. He knew and he was pleased. He told me that he thought he might be able to retire after completing our order. He just might.

When Ranger came out of the building with Lester, he looked really tired. He had seemed okay that morning, but now he looked like he'd been beat up. Maybe therapy was really hard on him. Maybe Dr. Addison did make him cry. Maybe I shouldn't tease him.

He got into the backseat beside me and fastened his seatbelt with a small sigh.

I reached over and took his hand and smiled. He was doing this for both of us. I wanted him to know I appreciated it. I do.

He smiled slightly and leaned over to kiss me. He rested his forehead against mine for a moment then took a deep breath. "I think we need food. Stephanie…your call for lunch today," he smiled.

"Okay," I bit my lip, "let's go to Rosie's Diner. We haven't been there in forever."

His lip twitched, "okay."

"Okay," I smiled.

Three of us ordered cheeseburgers, fries and shakes and Ranger ordered a salad with balsamic vinegar dressing. He's such a wild cat when it comes to food. Yea…I smirked.

"You know," I said softly to Ranger while Mitch and Lester studied the menu for dessert, "if you want to delay this afternoon's session…we can."

He took a deep breath, "no, let's do it. We need to do it."

"Are you sure," I bit my lip.

"I'm sure," he smiled. "Don't worry so much."

"It's what I do."

"I know," he laughed softly.

The guys ordered dessert and Ranger grinned at Mitch, "do you know why Stephanie picked this place?"

"She loves cheeseburgers," he raised a brow.

"That too," he laughed. "This is where we met. As a matter of fact, we were in this booth. I was where I am and she was where you are."

"What did you think," Mitch grinned.

"She had spunk," Ranger shrugged. "If I scared her, she didn't show it outwardly. She was determined. She was beautiful."

I laughed, "He scared me."

"He scares a lot of people," Lester grinned.

"He was huge and wearing black and he had this hair slicked back in a ponytail with earrings. He was the only person I knew that was brave enough to wear earrings in both ears. Where I grew up, that was like an open declaration you were gay," I shrugged. "I figured out pretty quick that he wasn't gay."

"Good to know," Ranger nodded.

"Well," I giggled. "It was certainly wishful thinking on my part."

"You were single then," Mitch asked.

"Yea, Morelli was actually my first FTA. He was wanted for murder. It was a hundred thousand dollar bond and my take was going to be ten percent. I needed that money. I mean badly."

"You got your man," he asked.

"Yea," I nodded with a slight smile, "with a little help from my friends."

"In more ways than one," Lester teased. "Ouch…who kicked me?"

"You're lucky that's all I did," Ranger growled.

"Dude, he's her past. You're her present and her future…right?"

"Right," he glared.

"I get it, leave Morelli out of it," he said rubbing his shin.

We spent the rest of lunch talking about my FTA's and my propensity for destroying cars, getting covered in garbage and other slime, and getting my ass in hot water. There was a lot of laughter.

"I can't believe you're the same girl," Mitch laughed. "You're so different now."

"I've only been like this less than a year," I admitted. "But I'm much better now than I was. My focus is different now. It seems like I finally get my act together and I'm moving onto a different phase of life," I grinned. "Oh well, ain't it always the way."

"Always," he nodded.

After lunch we drove back to Dr. Addison's building and Mitch found a parking space up front easily. "Okay you two," he said pulling up in front of the building, "there will be no hitting below the belt. You will fight fair. You will not linger over things that should be forgotten. You will remember the goal."

"Yes sir," I grinned and slid out of the truck.

"You're pushing it Ghost," Ranger said stepping onto the sidewalk.

"You should be glad I'm encouraging instead of discouraging," he grinned as he got out of the truck to let Lester take the wheel.

"Keep them in line Mitch," Lester grinned.

"Will do," he nodded and followed us into the building.

The receptionist smiled at us the moment we walked in. "Let me tell him that you're here. He's really looking forward to today's session."

"Oh boy," I swallowed.

Dr. Addison appeared at his office door a few minute later. "Good. Good. Come on in."

I got to my feet and walked into the office with Ranger's hand on the small of my back.

"I'm glad you're both here. I have to tell you, I've been looking forward to this ever since Stephanie started therapy with me."

I groaned.

"Oh come now Stephanie," he laughed. "You had to know that as much as I've heard from you about your husband that I'd have some things to say."

I nodded.

"Okay, get comfortable and let's get started. Why don't we start with the fundamentals of why we're here," he said calmly. "Who wants to go first?"

I sighed, "The fundamentals of why we're here? You mean the reasons?"

"Right," he nodded.

"Well, I…we want the marriage to work and we both realize that we have work to do."

He nodded, "you sound like a textbook."

I sighed.

"What about you," he nodded at Ranger.

"I need to be able to tell Stephanie how I feel about her. I think I'm fairly good at showing it now most of the time, but I can't tell her. I think we need to be more open with each other. We seem to know only the surface of each other."

"That's good," he nodded. "Can you give me an example of that?"

"Well, for instance, I didn't know that she color coded her closet until we were living together in the house. She didn't do that in the penthouse. She didn't do that in her apartment. Her closet and drawers are…well, they're not labeled, but everything is together…you know the blues and the reds. She's a neat freak. I didn't know that about her before."

"I haven't always been that way," I admitted. "When I feel like my life is out of control I do what I can to find control. That's why I keep the closet and drawers like that. By being organized it helps me feel less out of control."

"But your life was out of control before," he blinked at me. "Your life was a mess and so was your apartment."

"True," I swallowed. "I didn't… The stuff that made my life out of control before wasn't anything that was truly important to me. When our…when I realized I was in love with you and I felt out of control in that aspect of my life, that's when I really changed."

"So you need control of that part of your life," Dr. Addison said.

"I don't know that I need to be in complete control," I said with a slight frown. "It's life. How can anyone ever be in complete control? I just want more control than I feel like I have sometimes. It's a little better now, but once you're in that habit, it's hard to put it aside and change back."

He nodded. "Okay Stephanie, what have you learned about Ranger?"

"Oh my God," I groaned, "it will take a couple of days to list all the things I've learned about him. He has tools."

Dr. Addison frowned, "and that is something you didn't know?"

"I didn't know," I said wide-eyed. "He has a router and some saws and a Dremel and all manner of tools. I've never even seen him hang a picture on the wall. But he has all these tools. I don't even know if he's ever used them. He has a router. Has he made a piece of furniture or something? I don't know."

"Why does this bother you," he asked.

"Because we're married," I said in frustration. "When you marry someone, aren't you supposed to know them? With everything I've learned about him in the last few months, I'm not sure I know very much about him at all. What if…what if we end up not being compatible because we have nothing in common other than hunting bad guys? I'm about to be a mother. I can't be traipsing all over the place looking to exterminate evil doers when I have a child at home. What if we don't have anything else to talk about," I swallowed as the last words came out of my mouth in a whisper. I reached up to dash the tears off my cheeks. "I'm scared of that."

"Is that all you're afraid of," he asked.

"Isn't that enough," I sighed. "But no…that's not all."

"What else," he asked.

"I didn't know anything about his family until we were married. For all I knew he could have been hatched. I don't know about his childhood. I didn't know he read _**He's Not That Into You**_ , and judging from the tattered cover, he's read it a few times." I took a deep breath, "everyone in my family calls him Ricardo. I know that's his name. I call him Ranger. I call my husband, the father of my child by his street name, and everyone else in my family calls him Ricardo…his family too. What does that say about us? And…and," I bit my trembling lip as the tears slid down my face, "he won't tell me that he loves me."

"But…"

"Won't or can't," I said shakily, "in either case, it doesn't feel real because he can't or won't."

The men gave me a few minutes to get myself together before carrying on.

"Okay, that's Stephanie's side. Mr. Manoso, how do you feel about that?"

"That she's right," he said softly. "I know that we don't know each other very well. That's the reason I brought everything I had to her house when I moved in. I wanted her to know who I was. I figured she'd be surprised by some of the things she found. I wanted her to be surprised. I wanted her to see that I wasn't this one dimensional character that I seemed to be. I'm real. I have layers. I wanted her to know that I wasn't just the guy who kept her safe and gave her orgasms," he groaned. "It's hard for me to talk about me. It's hard for me to feel like it's important to anyone else who I am. But I'm trying."

"I know," I whispered.

"I…also know that we haven't even talked about one of the biggest things out there keeping us from being all we can be to each other," he sighed. "I married her. She was drunk and I was sober. I knew what I was doing. She didn't or if she did, she wasn't as aware that it was real. I tricked her," he shrugged and swallowed. "I took what I wanted from her and thought we could fix it later. I knew she loved me. She told me that she loved me. I…I went by the rule that it was easier to get forgiveness than permission considering my problems."

"It wasn't fair," I sighed.

"I know," he admitted. "I didn't realize how much damage I could do, that I have done. I wasn't your partner. I was acting like I was the boss and I made all the decisions. I took your feelings out of the equation and that was wrong. I know that. I understand that. I just want to fix it."

I bit my lip.

"You two haven't talked about any of this before today?"

"We were going to," Ranger said with a sigh. "Then someone tried to kill us and very nearly succeeded. We got off track."

"And we found out that I was pregnant," I said softly. "Focus shifted. But we know it's important or we wouldn't be here."

"Okay," he leaned forward with his fingers linked, "you do have some problems. Some of your problems are doozies too," he said seriously. "I won't lie to you. Not only that, some of the things that are your problems that seem so insignificant, aren't. And some of the things that seem huge aren't so important." He sighed. "You're not having sex?"

"No," I shook my head. "I need the words."

"Do you feel like you're withholding part of yourself from him to get what you want?"

"That may be how it appears," I said tearfully, "but I can't give myself to him again and not know that he feels what I feel. I can't do it."

He nodded, "okay, sex is out. What you're feeling is reasonable." He turned to Ranger, "do you understand that?"

He nodded.

"Okay, so you don't make love. You need to snuggle, kiss, whisper and be like lovers. You need the intimacy. If sex is out, then you need to find another intimacy. Do you understand?"

"Yes," we said together and nodded.

"But if you get to the point where sex isn't out, that's okay too. You need the intimacy, all right?"

"Okay," I said softly.

"Also, Stephanie…why do you call him Ranger," he asked.

"That's the name he was introduced to me with. He's always been Ranger."

"I call him Ricardo."

I groaned, "See…"

"You could choose to call him something other than Ranger," he said seriously. "You've made a choice to continue to call him Ranger when you know those who are his family call him something else. Why do you do it?"

"I don't know," I whispered.

"That's your assignment for our next session. Figure out something else to call him or decide that you're both okay with you continuing to call him Ranger. If you choose to call him something else, you need to call him something that your average street thug doesn't call him."

I nodded.

"And Ricardo, you need start sharing part of yourself with your wife. Start telling her about your childhood and not just leaving things around to give her hints. You need to communicate. Do you know much about Stephanie's childhood?"

"Yes," he nodded.

"Then don't you think it's fair that you share yours," he asked.

"Yes," he said quietly.

"I also expect you to talk for one half hour every day about things you like to do that have nothing to do with your job or your child or your home. I want you to talk about books and movies and music and vacation destinations and all sorts of things that are just about you. When I see you back here in one week, we'll discuss what you've learned. If you can…talk about your wedding, can you try to do that?"

I nodded and saw Ranger's head bob with mine.

"You were right to be worried. You obviously care about each other because each of you has been honest in saying what you need and what you're afraid of. You're willing to do the work. You both know that marriage is more than diamond rings and sex. I believe you're committed. So…we'll work on this. This is salvageable."

I felt the breath I'd been holding slip past my lips.

He smiled at me, "you were afraid I'd say it was hopeless?"

"I was," I whispered.

"What would you have done if I said that?"

"Found another therapist," I said with my head held high.

He laughed, "And that's why it's not hopeless. I'll see you a week from today at this same time. Is that good?"

"That's good," Ranger nodded.

"Keep the faith," he said quietly when he opened the door. "You're in the right place."

I nodded and Ranger shook his hand.

The ride back to the house was pretty quiet. Neither of the guys said anything to either of us. I must have looked pretty miserable. I know Ranger looked a little worse for wear.

When we got home I went straight to the kitchen. I'd make dinner and I'd think about things there in my new thinking position. I'd think about how to fulfill my homework requirements. I'd think about how to save my marriage. I would definitely think about the obvious pain on my husbands face as he talked. He was hurting. I wasn't the only one.

As I worked I realized how we'd both been covering up what was really going on inside of our hearts. I was terrified and didn't tell him or show him, he sure wasn't giving me any clue that he was as concerned as I was. I had to admit to myself that he was showing me that he loved me…all the time. Maybe he'd been showing me for four years. For four years he'd protected me from harm. He'd comforted me. He'd helped me to become good at what I did. He advised me in everything from real estate to proper gun care. I had been so blind.

I sank down on the stool at the kitchen island and swallowed. All those kisses in the alleys, all the times he'd been able to find me and protect me, he'd loved me. The way he found me at Stiva's and the look on his face when he'd pulled me out of the box…it showed that he loved me. What the hell was wrong with me? Did I need the words when he showed me in every other way imaginable?

I got up off the stool and walked out of the kitchen. Mitch and Lester were sitting on the couch watching television. Mitch glanced at me and nodded toward the stairs.

I almost ran up the stairs, so much so that I was breathless when I opened the bedroom door. He was lying on the bed face up with his hands behind his head staring at the ceiling.

"Stitches out," I whispered.

He glanced over at me and nodded.

I ran to him and lay down on top of him and buried my face in his neck and cried.

"Babe…er…Stephanie," he whispered as his arms came around me.

"I love you," I whispered from his neck. "And it's okay if you can't say it. I know you love me. I know you always have loved me." I raised my head and met his frown, "I can't believe I was so blind."

"Shhh," he whispered and pushed the curls back from my face. "It's okay."

"I don't need them that bad. If it hurts you to fix it or to explore something inside of you that causes you pain, don't do it. I can live without them if you stay and show me."

He smiled, "you mean that?"

"I mean it," I said softly. "I love you. I don't want you to hurt over this."

He smiled and hugged me to him tightly, "you have no idea how much it means to me that you say that," he sighed in my ear. "But I meant what I said. I'm going to be able to say the words to the bean. I want to say them to you." He swallowed, "I need to say them to you."

"I love you," I whispered and relaxed on his big body.

"Do you think this is what the doctor meant by intimacy," he smiled.

"Maybe," I said softly as I kissed down his neck, "but…maybe it would be okay to be more intimate."

"Maybe," he smiled.

I rolled off of him. "I love you," I said and reached down to tug my shirt over my head. "You can't say the words yet, but you can show me."

He groaned.

"I'll say it and you do it," I said as I tossed my jeans aside.

"Are you sure," he said rolling over and pinning me to the mattress.

"I'm sure."

"Well…can we agree that we both show it? I need a little participation here."

I grinned. "Trust me Ricardo…you're going to get all the participation you can handle."

"Now that," he said as his shirt joined mine on the floor, "is what I'm talking about."


	21. Chapter 21

By the time Ranger and I went downstairs to get something to eat, the boys were eating pizza delivered by one of their fellow Rangeman employees. Mitch took one look at us and shook his head. We ate straight from the refrigerator laughing and kissing between bites. As soon as we had enough sustenance to survive, we went back upstairs and continued with more of the same.

To say that I was tired the next morning was a bit of an understatement. But I was happy and God knows that I was satisfied.

Since Ranger had been returned to light duty, he elected to go to work. Tank and Cal came by and picked him up. Cal let me know that he and Natalie were finally ready to start renovations on the Munster house. They had been shopping at Home Depot and Lowe's for weeks and finally had an idea what they wanted. They were going to do all the work themselves, so it was going to be a real experience. He told me that he'd see me at Gaby's later. He was one of the runners that would be there. I kissed his cheek and waved at Tank in the driver's seat and went back inside to see Mitch and Lester moving around the kitchen warming up the French toast I'd made earlier.

"I'm glad to see you guys up and about," I teased. "Did you party too hard last night?"

"No," Lester glared at me, "but it was pretty damn hard to go to sleep when I kept hearing ohGodRangerohGod every few minutes. Jesus Christ, you two need to hold it down. You're going to traumatize your fetus."

I laughed, "Dr. Dickson said the bean wouldn't see anything."

"Well, she heard it," he groaned and sank to the breakfast table, "everybody in Trenton heard it."

I grinned and blushed, "thanks…I'll keep that in mind." I turned to Mitch, "you heard it too?"

"I guess I'm out of the running," he sighed heavily. "Yea, I heard it."

I kissed the top of his head as I went by the breakfast table, "sorry, I'll find you a good girl."

"The last one was good," he craned his neck to smile at me, "she just needs to be…I need spark."

"Got it," I nodded. "I'll find you some spark."

"I appreciate the help," he shrugged. "You've done pretty good for the other guys."

"More or less," I nodded. "But I've known most of them longer than I have known you. But now, I think I can do it."

"Really," he raised a brow.

"Really," I laughed. "I wouldn't leave you hanging."

"You kind of already did," he pointed out.

"I did no such thing. I was practically married to Ranger…er Ric when we met."

He raised a brow at the name change.

"Er…homework," I blushed.

He grinned.

"We have to be at Gaby's place in an hour, will you be ready?"

"I will," he agreed. "You probably need to cover up some of the whisker burn on your face and neck," he grinned, "unless…you don't care."

"I don't care," I said backing out of the room and racing for the stairs.

"You so do care," he yelled after me.

I groaned when I saw my reflection in the mirror. The fact that my husband and I were at it again would be all over Rangeman within hours. That pretty much meant that everyone in the world who knew we had been abstaining would know we were no longer doing that. Everyone would know but my parents (please God) and Dr. Addison. Let's be real, I wasn't sure about any of them.

By the time we got to Gaby's, I knew that I was pretty much on target. Everybody there knew except Gaby and his people. Hell, they could know too but they probably didn't give a rat's ass.

Ranger showed up and kissed me, "okay…what's the plan?"

"I'm going to find furniture according to the lists here," I tapped the page. I'm keeping count and so is Mitch and so is Gaby. We'll compare at the end. As we select items they'll tag them and people will start pulling them off the shelf and loading them onto the trucks. Max says we can deliver today."

He nodded. "What do I need to do?"

"Don't let me get carried away and buy anything hideous."

"Done," he nodded.

Three hours later we were about halfway done and it was time to stop for lunch.

Gaby grinned at me, "We match on everything on the list. We should be good to go."

"Yeah," I grinned. "Do you want us to bring you anything back for lunch?"

"Bless you child no," he patted my hand. "My wife has packed me a lunch every day for forty years."

"Well okay then," I smiled.

"Come on Babe," Ranger said draping his arm around my shoulders and tugging me against him. "Let's eat."

"Where are we going?"

"Well, we've got the whole crowd. They want McDonalds."

"Sounds good to me," I grinned. "Maybe I'll order a Happy Meal."

He just shook his head.

By the time our day of shopping ended at Gaby's, the only thing we still needed as far as furniture goes was a single table for the lobby. All the tables he had in stock were too short. He told me he'd find us one in the same style as the others and send it over. Gaby was a swell guy. Ranger wrote him a gigantic check when we were done and we all headed to the Rangeman facility to watch things arrive and so I could direct the location of the items.

It was midnight before we left the new Rangeman facilities and there was still a lot to be done. There was furniture stacked in the lobby of each building. It was crazy.

I trod wearily up the stairs and asked myself why I kept buying houses with multiple stories. I wasn't getting any younger. Soon I'd be going up and down the stairs multiple times a day to change a diaper or something. I'd be exhausted.

I turned on the shower and stripped down and stepped under the heavenly spray concentrating one of the nozzles on my aching back. I felt a breeze when Ranger came into the shower with me and didn't even open my eyes.

"Does your back hurt," he frowned.

"Yea," I agreed.

"You didn't lift anything, did you?"

"I must be getting out of shape," I groaned. "I think it was from bending over."

"I'll give you a massage when we get out of here."

"Oh no, you don't," I squinted up at him, "if you start massaging the outside of me, before long you'll be massaging the inside of me and then you'll be late to work again tomorrow and they'll be giving me a hard time."

He laughed and tugged me into his arms, "I don't care what they think."

I sighed and leaned against him. When he was holding me, I didn't care either. I cared even less when he was massaging inside of me. "Okay…"

"Okay," he grinned and kissed my neck.

"Okay," I agreed.

Since we were going to the new offices instead of the old offices the next day, he wasn't late. We weren't late. Well, we weren't very late. It was only a few minutes. I don't think anyone noticed. Oh hell, they all noticed. Clock watchers!

By one o'clock when we stopped for lunch, things were looking much better. The old offices had been nice, but these were going to be very nice and very elegant. Ranger and Tank decided they would keep the other offices for local services and use the new facility primarily as their main facility. The old offices would be used for updates with local law enforcement, soft research and for overnight visitors from our other facilities. We wouldn't have to worry about a stay at a B&B that could potentially be blown up like we'd had to deal with in Boston. We'd be sure our people would be safe. The cost of our insurance would probably go down too. Well, maybe not, but I can always hope.

By four that afternoon, almost all the furniture was in place and I was looking around trying to decide what all else needed to be done. Obviously there needed to be art on the walls. I would find a starving artist sale and take care of that. Or maybe Ranger and I would hit a couple of the places we'd been before to find stuff for the house. I suppose it would depend on what he thought about it when we talked later. The Rangeman employees loved the idea that the quarters were all going to be decorated differently. They also liked the stackable washer/dryers in each of the apartments. It gave them a little more privacy.

Things had gone so well that I was starting to think that things were just going to swim along as normal…for me, normal for me. Sheesh, you people are so judgmental. Anyway, I knew that wasn't going to happen when we walked into our house secured by State of the art systems and found Diesel lounging on our couch. Yea, the house was secure. That was what the look I shot Ranger said. He just grinned.

"Diesel, long time no see," I said dropping beside him on the couch.

"Whoa," he blinked and jumped to his feet and backed across the room. "When did you get pregnant?"

I blinked and started laughing about then. He made it sound like I'd grown another head…which in fact, I sort of had. But it was in my womb not dangling alongside the other one.

Ranger cleared his throat, "Diesel."

"Ranger," Diesel's eyes narrowed. "Oh man…you married him before I had a chance to get into your pants," he sighed and sank down to the recliner.

"You never had a chance to get into my pants," I said raising a brow at him.

"I wouldn't say that's strictly true. I just didn't try very hard. Hey cousin," he grinned and got up to hug Mitch. "I got your message. What's the emergency?"

"Well, do you want the long version or the short version?"

"Dude…this is me," he shook his head.

"Right," Mitch nodded. "Someone's trying to kill either me or Ranger. Stephanie doesn't know if she should trust her tingle. Is it a fluke, or is she one of us?"

"That's all," he shook his head. "I could have told you that on the phone."

Mitch sighed, "Did you hear the part about someone maybe wanting me dead?"

"Same old, same old," he rolled his eyes. "Yea…you are," he said to me. "You haven't developed it though. You need to work on that. Can I go now?"

"Wait," I jumped to my feet and stood in front of him with crossed arms and a dare in my stance, "how do I develop it?"

"You're asking me? That's not what I do. I'm like an auror…you know from Harry Potter. I can see the bad guys or the good guys, and I track the bad ones and either neutralize them or send them to Azkaban. I'm not a teacher. I'm a tracker. Got it? They both start with a T so I know it can be confusing, but I can't help you there."

"You know you're an ass, right?" I glared at him.

"Yea, but you love me," he grinned at me. He leaned around me to see Ranger, "of course she only loves me in a purely platonic way and in no way like she loves you. So…we're good right?" Moments later Diesel sat back with a sigh. "What if I find you a teacher?"

"Really," I blinked.

"Really," he sighed. "I know this girl. She's good. But she doesn't like being unmentionable that much. I mean, you know she wants a normal life. But she's really good at teaching people how to tap into their hidden talents. I'll talk to her and find out if she'll do it."

"What's her name?"

"Ali," he sighed.

"Did you like her?"

"Yea, I like her," his eyes narrowed at me suspiciously.

"Did she tell you to take a hike?"

"I'm not her type," he shrugged. "She's more into doofus' like my cousin Mitch who like living the mortal life. He doesn't use his talent unless it's necessary and for good."

"Neither do you," I said with a smile.

"Well…I have been known to use it to get into a woman's pants before," he shook his head.

"Well, you didn't try it on me," I smiled.

"Who says so," he got to his feet. "I'll check with Ali. Keep an eye on my boy." He walked out the front door.

I chased after him to ask him another question and he was gone. Whoosh, he vanished into thin air. God, that's annoying. I closed the door and walked to my husband with a sigh.

"So what do we do now," Ranger asked.

"We hope that he can get Ali to train me and I start doing some research. I'll need to go to Rangeman tomorrow."

"You can come back to the new offices with me tomorrow," he nodded. "They're putting the computers in tonight. You'll be able to get in with no problem. What kind of research do you need to do?"

"The usual kind," I smiled. "Let me keep it to myself just a little longer. Is that okay?"

"Anything you want to do is okay," he smiled and kissed me.

"Geez," Lester sighed. "Get a room."

"We have one…this entire house," Ranger said and his brow went up.

"Honey…your brow is back," I danced around him in excitement. Okay, I admit it. It takes very little to get me excited.

"My brow…," he frowned.

I raised my brow at him.

He raised his again and then the other one and laughed. "Thank God, I thought I broke it."

I wrapped my arms around him, "I was worried too. I'm glad it's back. It's very sexy."

"How sexy," he raised it again.

"Come on upstairs and I'll show you," I said trailing my fingers across his brow.

He scooped me up and headed for the stairs. "You're on your own boys."

"Remember what I said," Lester groaned.

I just winked at him over Ranger's arm. It was really his problem.


	22. Chapter 22

Ranger did eventually have to go back to work. He had a business to run and he couldn't ignore his responsibilities forever. I, on the other hand, had an entirely new set of responsibilities. My first responsibility was to make sure that my husband had plenty of good loving and left the house satisfied every time. Okay, that's not strictly a responsibility, but it was my dream life and I was sure as hell gonna take advantage of as much nekkid Ranger time as I possibly could. My second responsibility was to care for the unborn child in my womb. My third responsibility was to take care of my home. My fourth…oh crap; I'm starting to sound like my mother. I touched my belly. I swear to you little bean, I will not take up ironing.

I finished pulling my hair into a pony tail and sauntered down the stairs to see Mitch reclined on the couch watching Dr. Phi. "What are you doing?"

"I'm getting relationship advice from Dr. Phil," he said seriously.

"Why," I raised a brow.

"I think I must need it. I pick all the wrong women."

"You didn't pick the last one, I did," I reminded him.

"I went out with her."

"I picked her for you."

He glared at me, "I agreed."

"Yea," I shrugged. "I guess I got my wires crossed. I thought I was getting pretty good at this. I should have seen that since she has an exciting life she'd want someone a little less…you know…talented."

"Talented," he snorted.

"Should I have said unmentionable?"

He just snorted again.

"But what can Dr. Phil teach you that you don't really already know? I think you just weren't ready when I introduced you to Carrie. You just didn't want to be alone, but you probably weren't ready for a commitment."

"That's right," he sighed. "I guess I was worried that I wasn't really going to be good relationship material."

"What changed your mind?"

"Spending all this time taking care of you," he shrugged. "Obviously I can handle it."

"Obviously," I nodded.

"What's on the agenda today?"

"We're going to swing by Unit and check with Mike and make sure he doesn't need anything else before opening. We're going to stop by this starving artist shop and see if they've got anything we can use in the new Rangeman offices. We're going to go by the pharmacy and pick up my prenatal vitamins and we're going to try and figure out why George wants to kill you," I said matter-of-factly.

Mitch blinked at me, "what?"

"George, the guy from the government…he wants you dead."

"Oh come on, that's crazy. I haven't even worked with those guys in years. And when I did work with those guys he wasn't on the dark ops team. I think he was overseas somewhere. You have to be off base with this Steph."

"Am I unmentionable," I said seriously.

"Yea," he nodded.

"Should I trust my 'power'?"

Yea," he said with a sigh.

"Then George wants you dead. I just don't know why. If my powers extend to knowing why…I don't know it yet," I sighed. "I just know what I know."

"Okay. George wants me dead," he sighed. "It's definitely me and not Ranger?"

"Definitely," I nodded. "I think he's also trying to convince Ranger that you are now or have been at one time some kind of double agent. You scare him. Why?"

"You've got to be kidding me," he blinked at me. "I'm a double agent? For who?"

"I don't know. Ranger's getting a transcript of the meeting. I'll get him to email it to me. He knows something isn't right. He just doesn't know what it is."

"Does he know that George is after me in a murderous way?"

"Not yet," I sighed. "I wanted to run it by you first. I figured if you didn't laugh at me, he might not."

"Why in the hell would he laugh at you? He knows that you're talented. He knows that you have gifts. You've pulled his ass out of the hole a couple of times. He trusts you." He sighed, "You need to tell him Stephanie. You need to do this."

I sighed, "Okay…first stop on our voyage…Ranger."

"Done," he nodded. "I thought you were trying to call him something else."

"I do call him something else," I grinned and blushed furiously.

He groaned and shook his head, "if you mean sex god or magic dick or anything else I've heard you screaming in the last couple of days I'm going to vomit."

I laughed and blushed a little brighter, "no…I'm working on calling him Ric. But only in personal settings for now."

"Okay," he nodded. "Are you ready to go?"

"I am," I nodded.

"Let's roll."

We drove to the new offices. When we arrived Cal directed us to the fourth floor where Ranger's new office was located. We took the elevator up and found the office easily. After all, his name was etched into the pewter plate by the door.

I tapped lightly.

"Enter," he barked.

"You tell him," Mitch said. "I'll wait out here."

"Chicken," I glared.

"No…you need to do this," he glared back.

"Ass," I groaned and opened the door with a smile. "Hi honey."

Ranger smiled lazily at me and got up and came around his desk and wrapped me in his arms. "What a great surprise. Did you miss me?"

"No…I mean yes," I groaned. "I always miss you when you're not around, but that's not why I'm here."

He frowned and stepped back and sat on the edge of his desk and motioned to the comfortable leather chair in front of it. "Tell me about it."

I sank down into the soft leather and sighed. "Damn this chair is comfortable."

"That's what Lester said," he raised a brow at me. "I had to threaten him this morning to get him to leave my office."

I grinned, "Well, the office looks great. I'm going to find you some art to go on the walls today."

"That would be great. Is that why you're here? Are you giving me the heads up that you're about to spend money?"

"No," I sighed. "I'm here about what's happening with our…attacker."

"Oh," he nodded. "Your tingles are telling you something?"

"Yea," I sighed.

"Why don't you seem happy about it?"

"Because you may not believe what I'm about to say and that worries me."

"Babe," he squatted in front of me and took my hands in his, "I will always believe you. I trust you more than I trust anyone in the world. You're my wife. You're the mother of my child. You're an unmentionable," he smiled. "If you know something, tell me. I want this resolved soon."

"Are you sure? It's pretty unbelievable."

"I'm sure," he agreed.

"Mitch is the target. If you don't travel with him, you're going to be fine."

"Fuck," he straightened and paced the office. "So…one of the men I trust to keep you safe is the reason you've been in danger. I'm the one who put you in the path of this latest madman?"

"Now see…I didn't want to tell you just because of responses like that."

"He's off your detail…now," he said seriously.

"I don't want you to do that," I sighed. "And why do I sound like the first lady now?"

"I'm not putting you and the bean at risk," he said and ran his hands through his hair. "Who is it? I'll kill the mother fucker."

"You don't want to know," I said softly.

His eyes widened, "you know who it is?"

I nodded.

"Who Stephanie," he bent over the chair with his hands on the arms, "who is it?"

I met his eyes, "Ranger…Ric…I mean it, you don't want to know. There's no going back once you know and I know you. It's going to be ugly."

His jaw worked, "tell me."

"George," I said quietly.

"George," he frowned trying to figure out who I meant. When the realization dawned he was floored. "Oh shit." His head dropped for a few minutes while I figured he was working to compose himself. He raised his eyes and met mine, "you're sure?"

I nodded.

"What the fuck are we going to do," he dropped into the chair beside mine.

"I don't know," I grimaced. "I'm the murder solver. You're the strategist. You tell me what we're going to do."

"I have no idea," he shook his head.

"You believe me?"

"If you say that George is trying to kill Mitch…then George is trying to kill Mitch," he nodded. "But why is he trying to kill Mitch?"

"I have no idea. I don't really do that part. I mean, now that I know who and all I'll work on figuring out the why, but I have to have Mitch to do that Ranger."

"No," he shook his head. "If you're with Mitch, you're at risk. I can't and won't do that."

I sighed. "I can't help either of you if you shut me away from him."

"That's fine. We'll figure it out on our own."

"Ranger," I groaned.

"Stephanie, there's no discussion about this," he said seriously. "I will not put you at risk. You're my world. If something happens to you I don't want to be here anymore. I don't know what I'll do. I'll sign the fucking papers and go back into black ops and I'm older now. I'm not as fast as I used to be."

"Bullshit," I rolled my eyes. "You're plenty fast. But you're not going to find out what will happen without me. I'm going to be fine. But you have to…"

"I don't have to," he shook his head. "This is my company. Mitch works for me. I make the personnel assignments…well, Tank and I do. If you had signed those papers then you could make decisions, but you didn't so now you'll just have to deal with it."

"That's so not fair," I glared at him.

"There is no way that Tank or I will assign Mitch to you when he can put your life at risk. You get someone else. Who do you want?"

"Mitch," I glared at him.

"Not happening," he shook his head.

"You're so stubborn," I groaned. "What is it going to take to make you see reason? You know I'm right."

"You can have anything else you want instead. Name it. But you're not getting Mitch on your detail."

I crossed my arms and pouted. "I want a bathroom in the tunnel under the house."

"What," he blinked.

"You keep sticking me down there and I'm a tad pregnant in case you weren't aware. You leave me there for hours and my bladder is currently the size of a walnut. I have to go…a lot. I need a bathroom."

He grinned and shook his head, "I'll talk to Max."

"And I want some kind of motorized cart down there. If I'm going to be down there I want to be able to get around. You're taking him off my detail. I assume you're putting him on lockdown. So I want to be able to go back and forth from the house to here via the underground tunnel. That will keep me safe and I'll get to pursue my ideas."

"Done," he nodded. "Is there anything else," he grinned.

"I want at least three earth shattering orgasms tonight."

He laughed and tugged me off the chair and onto his lap, "Do you want to start now?"

"I would very much," I said sadly, "but Mitch is right outside your door."

"And," he raised a brow.

"And the guys are getting a little tired of hearing me scream your name in ecstasy."

"See now that's what I don't understand," he said nuzzling my ear, "because I'm not tired of it at all. I could listen to it all day long."

"Hmm," I wrapped my arms around his neck, "I had plans today."

"What were you going to do," he murmured from my neck.

"We were going to go by Unit and make sure they didn't need anything else. We were going to go by the starving artist shop and see if they had anything we could use here. We were picking up my prenatal vitamins," I sighed and tilted my throat so he could better reach it.

"And then what," he whispered as his hand slid inside my shirt and into my bra to cup my breast.

I moaned softly, "then I was going to go home and make dinner."

"What are we having," he tilted me back so he could latch onto my now bared nipple.

"Er…chicken paella," I moaned.

"We need to break in my new office," he said and got to his feet and carried me to the couch. He stopped by the door and flipped the lock.

"Oh for God's sake," I heard Mitch grunt and stomp off.

Ranger chuckled, "okay…maybe you're right about that screaming ecstasy thing."

"I know I'm right about it," I said as he laid me down on the sofa and started removing his clothes. "I'm right about a lot of things."

"Be right later," he said tugging at my jeans.

"I can do that," I agreed.


	23. Chapter 23

Ranger blew off the rest of the day. I'm not sure this being married thing is really good for his business. Instead of staying there and working like he would have normally done, he left the office and went all the places with me that Mitch was going to go. Mitch, on the other hand, was escorted by armed guards back to the other offices and locked up on the seventh floor. All the apartments were full but our place. It was also the most secure spot in the building. He'd have stayed at the new facility, but it wasn't fully operational.

Mike showed me the new menu filled with all the things that I'd helped add to the menu. Listed were Ranger's Burrito Dinner, Mrs. Falcon's Lemon Cake, Bombshell Blast, and Stateside Roast Beef among other things. There was a forward on the menu that thanked me for my generous time and commitment to the improvement to the menu. It was very sweet. Mike wasn't being bothered any more at all and when Ranger told him that the target was actually Mitch, he became very concerned. He sent us to the kitchen to talk to Smith. Smith had a lot to say about George and none of it was very good.

If Ranger doubted my instincts before, which he didn't, he wouldn't now. But he was even more concerned with how to go forward. George was dangerous. And crossing George could mean big trouble. He'd have to handle it just right. And he wasn't really sure what just right was right now.

We got my prescriptions next and then headed to the gallery. We walked away after purchasing a lot of stuff that would all be delivered the next day. We spent thousands of dollars, but we felt that every place in the facility deserved to be as special as we could make it.

Ranger admitted to me that the new building had cost several hundred million dollars. Part of it was government funded. He wasn't doing black ops anymore, but some of the black ops were being run through our facility and monitored there once we were up and running. That had been Robert's idea. It was one more disconnect from the government. It gave them another way to say it they had no knowledge. They ran it through as a government grant. Tank and Ranger were contracted for ten years to run those ops and then they would be free and clear. If they chose to continue after that, it would be at some astronomical price. I could see why dealing with George had to be done with kid gloves now. But I wasn't going to let him kill Mitch. George was a bad man.

We headed back home and straight to the kitchen to make dinner. I started it and he shuffled through the mail.

"You got a letter from Brian," he said putting a small pile on the counter for me.

"What does he say," I smiled as I stirred.

"I didn't open it," he shook his head.

"You can," I winked at him. "Will you read it to me?"

He shook his head and opened it,

" _Dear Stephanie,_

 _Did I mention to you that my father is insane? He's become completely obsessed with the idea of Lord of the Rings being in New Zealand. Well, he was. Now he's bored and he wants to come home. He wants to come to Trenton and see you. I told him that your marriage is fixed and you're happy. He says that he's glad. He liked Ranger. He thought he was an upstanding guy. He's right about that part too. He's made some real bonehead moves, but he loves you and he is, at heart, a good man._

 _Dad and I have had some really long talks and I'm going to go ahead and take the bar when I come back. I may go back to the government or I may not. I was first in my class at Harvard in law school. I chose to walk away. I would have been a good lawyer. I just didn't think I'd like it. I don't want to work defending bad people. I'd almost rather find a good company that I trust and work solely for them. The money won't be as good, but I'll have peace of mind and regular hours. It's not bad._

 _Anyway…I want you to know that I'm happy for you. I truly am very happy for you. I will always love you, but it's faded to a kind of sweet friendship love and I'm content with that. You taught me that I'm capable of loving and when the right girl comes along, I'm not afraid to take that chance. Thank you for that._

 _Give Ranger my best. I know he loves you more than his own life. I'll be glad when he can say it, but like you I realize that he does love you no matter whether the words ever come out of his mouth at all. His actions have said it all along._

 _Love,_

 _Brian_ "

"Oh wow," I sighed. "That's very nice. He sounds good."

"He does sound good," he wrapped his arms around me. "How hungry are you?"

I grinned, "not very."

"I think I owe you three earth shattering orgasms."

"You only owe me two now," I laughed.

"No…you said tonight. That one was a warm up."

"Oh boy," I grinned.

"So…"

"So, we'll heat up some leftovers when we get hungry," I turned to him.

"Sounds like a plan."

Hours later, after four or five orgasms of the global damaging variety and some left over stroganoff eaten on the couch in front of the television Ranger's phone suddenly went ballistic.

"What the hell," I blinked at him.

"Oh my God," he said running for the stairs.

"What's wrong," I said wide-eyed.

"Someone's breaking into Rangeman," he said.

"Oh shit," I raced up the stairs after him. When I got to the bedroom he was throwing clothes on.

"What are you doing," he asked when I went into the closet.

"I'm going with you."

"You are not," he said seriously.

"Ric…"

"No Stephanie," he said softly and took my upper arms in his hands, "you're not. You and the bean are going to stay here where it's safe and incubate. I'm going to go and make sure everything and everyone is okay. The police are there. You're staying here."

"I can't," I pleaded tearfully.

"When it's clear, I'll send someone for you," he said softly. "I know they're your friends too."

I nodded.

"Please…I need you to be safe."

"Okay," I whispered.

He wrapped me in his arms tight and hugged me as though his life depended on it. Then he let me go, kissed my head and grabbed his guns and knives and ran out the door.

I didn't like this. It seemed as though I was always waiting for someone to tell me that people I love are okay. I wasn't in the thick of things. The bean was worth it, don't get me wrong, but it was the beginning of a new life for me. I couldn't roll in garbage anymore even if I wanted to. Not that any sane people want to roll around in the garbage you understand. I just wanted the option. But I couldn't do that now. I was a mother. No wonder my mother acted like she had a stick up her ass for years. She couldn't enjoy life.

It was hours before the lights of a black Rangeman vehicle came up the driveway and stopped by the front door. Lester tapped lightly before coming inside and taking me into his arms.

"Is everyone okay," I whispered.

"No," he shook his head. "Mark and James, two of the new guys we'd recently hired, who were working monitors tonight are both dead. Cal's in the hospital, they're not sure he's going to make it. He's got multiple gunshot wounds, so does Tank but they're expecting him to survive. Woody's got a couple of shots in him. We're down two good men and we may lose another one."

"Oh my God," I groaned. "Where do I go?"

"What do you mean," he frowned.

"I need to see my husband, and then I need to go to the hospital. The girls may need me."

He nodded. "Let's go."

When we pulled onto Haywood I was aghast. There were flashing lights all around the block. There were police cars, state police cars, sheriffs' cars, and federal cars along with Rangeman vehicles. There were crime units and multiple television stations there including some national coverage. This was big news.

"I can't let you in there ma'am," the state policeman said.

"The hell you say," I glared at him. "My husband owns this company. He's in that building. I'm going in. If you want to stop me, you're going to have to shoot me. And if you shoot me, my husband is going to be really pissed. And…"

The man paled, "go on in ma'am. I didn't realize you were Mrs. Manoso."

"Thank you," I said as Lester drove into the garage. I got out of the SUV and ran for the elevator punching the button several times impatiently. "Where is he Lester?"

"I don't know," he sighed. "The com is down. The crime unit is in there."

"Oh Jesus," I groaned. "What about our clients?"

"We've rerouted to the new facility. Hal and Gabe are there."

I flipped open my phone and hit one on speed dial.

"Yes Babe," he said tiredly.

"Where are you?"

"My office," he sighed.

"Okay," I closed my phone. "Oh shit," I groaned. "I hung up on him."

I punched the button for the fifth floor the second we got on and tapped my foot impatiently. When the elevator doors opened he was standing there and I flung myself in his arms. He was covered in blood. It wasn't his though. He looked like he might break. "I'm so sorry. Oh God Ric, I'm so sorry," I held onto him tight.

He put his face in my neck and breathed me in as his arms crushed me to him. He was shaking.

I knew he felt that he was responsible for the welfare and safety of his men. I knew that he had designed that facility so they would be safe. He felt like he had failed.

"He's going to pay for this."

"I know," I whispered.

"Get Brian here. I need someone on our side. Tell him to bring his father with him."

I frowned up at him, "are you sure?"

"They have contacts. I had some long talks with Fenton Goodman and I know he knows people that can help me here. I also know he believes he owes you one. Get them here. If Brian's interested, he can have that corporate job with me."

"I'll call him," I nodded. "I love you Ric. Do you need anything?"

"I just had what I needed. I know you're safe."

"I'm going to the hospital."

He nodded. "I'll be there as soon as I can get away."

"Okay. I love you," I said softly.

He hugged me to him after giving me one long agonizing look, "be careful. Lester, take care of her."

"I will. I promise."

He released me and I turned to get back on the elevator. As the doors closed I could see him standing in the hall and he looked utterly lost. I would make sure George paid for this if it was the last thing I did.

I went straight up to the surgical waiting room. Lester knew where everyone was. All three of the men were in surgery. I raced inside and three of the most important women in my life came toward me.

I wrapped my arms around Natalie as Lula and Connie joined our hug. "Have you heard anything," I whispered.

"Not yet," she said softly.

"Who do I need to call? Do I need to call your parents? Do I need to call his parents?"

She blinked at me in shock. "Oh my God, I didn't even think…"

"That's why I'm here. I opened my phone and went through my contacts till I got Cal's parents. I called the number immediately knowing it was late and knowing that if I waited it might be too late. I spoke softly to Cal's father. They were in Philadelphia but would be there as soon as possible. I told them I'd make the reservations if they'd tell me when they'd be ready to leave. He spoke softly to his wife and I heard her start to cry. He told me that they could be at the airport in an hour. I told him I'd call him back.

I called Ranger and he called the corporate pilot and told him to go to Philadelphia. Someone from Rangeman would pick them up from the airport. He'd arrange their accommodations.

I called them back and he sighed in relief.

Then I called Natalie's parents and did the same thing. They were closer though. They were in Newark and would drive over immediately.

I walked back over, "they're on their way."

She shook her head and let me wrap my arms around her. "He can't die Steph. I waited twenty-seven years for him. He's my life. I love him so much."

"I know," I said softly. "He loves you too. He told me once that he didn't think he'd ever find someone who could look at him and think he was normal. He said when people looked at him he felt that they either thought he was some kind of zoo animal or they were just interested because he was probably anatomically correct. He'd given up on ever having a real relationship with a woman. But you looked at him and you saw past all the tattoos and saw him. You saw his bright blue eyes and you saw him. It was amazing to him. He loves you Natalie. I mean he adores you."

She sobbed, "thank you."

"It's just the truth of it."

"As bad as things are here. Mark and James' girlfriends aren't ever going to see them again. I'm the lucky one. I got here before they took him into surgery. I got to see him alive."

Tears rolled down my cheeks. Dr. Riley came through the doors and he looked exhausted. "One at a time okay," he said softly. "I've been assisting in all three surgeries. Mrs. Thibodeaux?"

"That's me," Lula said softly.

"Your husband is fine. He's in recovery. Not a single one of his injuries is life threatening. They nicked his liver, but it's okay. A person can live with a very small portion of their liver and his is healthy and the small piece that's gone won't be missed. You will be able to see him as soon as they move him out of post op to a regular room."

"Thank you Jesus," Lula said hugging him tight.

Dr. Funny Bone Riley raised a brow at me and grimaced.

I smiled.

"Connie Roselli," he turned to the Betty Boop look alike. "Woody is doing great. He's going to be in a room in about fifteen minutes. His injuries are all minor. You can see him as soon as a nurse comes in here to get you."

"Yes," she hugged him and latched on to Lula with a sigh of relief.

"Now…Mrs. Henderson," he said to Natalie, "your husband is still in surgery. We still don't know anything yet, but I'll tell you this much. He's healthy. He's strong. And he has a will to live."

She nodded.

"Don't worry. I've never seen anyone with a will this strong not make it."

She nodded again and gave him a small grateful, tearful smile.

"How about you Mrs. Manoso," he said quietly. "I didn't see your husband in here anywhere."

"He wasn't there. He was at home," I said softly.

"It's your lucky day," he squeezed my hand and walked away.

It didn't feel so lucky.

Natalie and I sat back down to wait and Lula and Connie hurried off to join the beckoning nurses after I waved them off.

Lester sank down on the other side of her, "do you need anything? Would either of you like some coffee?"

Natalie sighed, "I'd love some."

"How do you like it?"

"Cream and two sugars," she said gratefully.

"Stephanie," he raised a brow.

"I've already had caffeine today," I made a face. "The bean and I are on a no caffeine diet the rest of the day."

"How about a bottle of water," he suggested.

"Perfect," I smiled.

Ranger came into the waiting room about an hour later. He didn't even change. He just came as he was.

He took Natalie into his arms and held onto her as she cried. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I don't know what we missed."

"You didn't miss anything," she whispered. "He says you're the best."

"They were better," he sighed.

She looked up the long distance to him, "don't do this Ricardo. This is not your fault. That building is state of the art. The new building is even better. Whoever did this had inside information. You know that."

He nodded grimly.

"Do you have any ideas," she said softly.

He nodded again, this time even more grimly.

"Then you make the son-of-a-bitch pay," she said with a snarl.

"You can count on it," he said coldly.

"That's all Cal and I need."

"What's the word?"

"Nothing for over an hour," I said tiredly. "Dr. Riley says Cal has a strong will to live."

"Of course he does," he nodded thoughtfully and smiled at Natalie, "he has you to live for."

She let a small sob escape, "you know…you're a good man Ricardo Manoso."

"Don't tell anyone," he sighed. "Stephanie…honey, did you make that phone call for me?"

"Shit," I groaned. "I'll do it right now." I got up and went over to the window and hit the 7 on speed dial. "Pick up, pick up, pick up," I muttered.

"Hello Sweetheart," Brian said lazily. His tone changed immediately to concern when he realized what time it was. "Hey…what are you doing up? It's after 3AM there."

"We need you," I said softly. "Ranger asked me to call."

"Oh shit," he gasped. "What happened?"

I laid everything out for him.

"Let me talk to Dad. I can pretty much guarantee you we'll be there in twenty-four hours. I'll call you back if it's going to be longer."

"We'll pick you up. We'll find you a place to stay that's safe."

"I want to be where there are resources Stephanie."

"Okay," I agreed. "I think I know where to put you. Let me talk to Ranger."

"Okay, I'll let you know when. Take care, honey. Bye." He hung up.

I sighed and turned to see Dr. Riley coming into the room. He looked more tired, but he didn't look grim.

"Natalie," he said softly.

"Yes," she whispered.

"He's alive. He's going to stay alive," he said with a smile. "That man is one amazing strong guy. I've only seen a will like that once before," he nodded toward me. "He's going to be okay."

She broke and collapsed in Ranger's arms.

I hugged Dr. Riley, "thank you."

"You're welcome. You have some amazing people in your life Stephanie Manoso."

"I know," I smiled. "I know."


	24. Chapter 24

Bobby arrived at the hospital just after Dr. Riley left us alone again. He had a host of other Rangeman employees with him to guard the doors of their friends and coworkers and to escort Natalie, Lula and Connie back home or across the street to the hotel.

"You need to rest," Ranger said seriously to Natalie as he squatted in front of her. "You aren't going to be able to see Cal till tomorrow at around eleven at the earliest. Bobby is going to talk Dr. Riley into letting you look through the window in CCU before you go."

"But…"

"Nat…you're no good to Cal if you fall apart. He needs you to rest. When he sees you next, he needs to know that you're okay. So you have to get some rest. I know it will be hard, but you have to."

"How do you know?"

"Because if I was in Cal's position, it would be what I needed."

She sighed, "Bobby will take me to see him first?"

"Yes," he assured me. "Then Jake and Andy will take you either across the street to the hotel so you can sleep or home. That's your call. They'll stay with you and bring you back in time to see him tomorrow. If anything changes at all, Bobby will call you. You have my word."

She nodded.

He hugged her. "Just tell them where you want to go."

"I want to go home," she said softly. "I want to be where Cal's smells are."

He smiled, "okay. They'll keep you safe."

"Thank you," she nodded.

Lula and Connie also elected to go home. Bobby was walking the halls between CCU and the rooms that Tank and Woody had been given. He was keeping updated on their prognosis and progress. He would inform everyone if anyone began to decline.

Ranger went up to Tank's room and I stayed in the CCU waiting room while Natalie looked through the glass at Cal. Bobby held her up, she put her hand on the glass and stared at her husband and cried. I knew how she felt. Sometimes being who we were was hard, but the things that we got out of it somehow made it worth it. I just know that I'd take one day of being loved by Ranger if that was all I could have if it meant he was gone tomorrow. He was worth it.

Ranger's expression when he returned from Tank's room was grim. Tank was awake and he told him what happened. He had gone into the office to finish up some contracts needed for the next day after Lula had gone to sleep. They came in like a swat team. He said there had to be twenty men. They were lucky to be alive. George, it seems, had really upped the ante. Ranger was really pissed. He said Tank was really pissed too. He'd told Tank that I thought Mitch was the target, but he hadn't had a chance to tell him who the doer was until right then. Tank was pissed.

Natalie was on her way home to sleep for a few hours before coming back to see her husband. The hospital was quiet.

"Come on, let's get you home and in bed," he sighed pulling me to my feet.

"I've already been in the bed," I teased.

He smiled, "to sleep this time."

"If you insist," I shrugged.

"You know…I may just have to give you some sugar after all."

I laughed.

I slept till Ranger got up. I think I felt the loss of his body. He was in the shower. I got into the shower with him and wrapped my arms around him. "Hey."

"Hey," he sighed as his hands moved to mine.

"I missed you."

He turned to tug me against him. "I'm headed to the hospital."

"Is there news?"

"No," he shook his head. "I just want to check in with Bobby before I head over to the office to meet with the Feds. I want to be back to the hospital by the time Natalie gets there."

"I'll get ready and you can leave me at the hospital."

"I'll do that," he nodded.

"You're really worried, aren't you?"

"If there weren't repercussions to you and the bean I'd just kill him," he said quietly. "But I can't risk it. I have to do this the right way and that's not really my forte. That's why I need Brian and the Judge."

I nodded.

"You're not going to run off with him as soon as he gets here, are you?"

I raised a brow at him, "I love you. I'm not going anywhere."

"Just checking," he sighed.

"You know what you need," I grinned up at him.

"What do I need?"

"You need some good lovin," I giggled and tickled him.

He squiggled out of my arms and pushed me back, "oh no you don't. I have to get out of here."

"You've never heard of a quickie," I laughed.

"I do not do quickie," he said and he was clearly offended.

"Come on. Try it. You might like it," I reached for him.

"Babe," he groaned as I sank to my knees.

"You might like it," I smiled as I took him into my mouth.

He liked it.

We stopped at the florist and ordered flowers and fruit baskets to be delivered to the hospital and to the CCU waiting room. We also ordered stuff for the nurse's stations. They work hard. They need to be appreciated.

Ranger went to check on Woody and I went to Tank. There were men in black guarding the doors and more in the waiting rooms. He looked rough, especially for Tank. Lula was there and she was bustling around the room filling his water pitcher and looking like she was in her element.

"You may have missed your calling. I think if this radio station thing ever flops you should become a nurse or at least a candy stripper," I grinned.

"I could do that too," she said thoughtfully filling Tank's water glass. "I got me a bedside manner. I could make my patients feel real comfortable. And I'm not shy like some of them nurses and shit. I know my way around the human body. If stuff was hanging out I wouldn't be embarrassed." She disappeared into the bathroom.

Tank raised a brow at me, "you would do that to the world?"

I grinned and leaned over to kiss him. "She's got a hit show. She doesn't have time to candy stripe. Get her pregnant and she'll be too busy for sure."

"Christ…we're working on it morning, noon and night. I have to go to the office to get some rest."

"Funny…I think my husband implied the same thing just last night," I laughed.

"He has been a little late to work recently," he pursed his lips thoughtfully.

I laughed again, "You look good. How do you feel?"

"Like I've been shot," he shrugged almost imperceptibly.

I nodded, "are you as pissed as Ranger is?"

"Oh yea," he nodded. "George is dead."

"One way or the other," I sighed.

Ranger came striding into the room, "Woody's good. Cal was conscience for a few minutes this morning according to Bobby. They'll probably let Woody out tomorrow. You're here till at least the day after unless you improve a lot before then."

"What are you going to do," Tank said seriously.

"Brian Goodman and his father the Judge are on their way from New Zealand."

"Fenton Goodman," Tank let out a low whistle. "The man has resources. I've heard he knows people both inside the government and in the 'family' as well."

"If that was all it was Connie could resolve it," I said thoughtfully. "You know…" I walked into the hall and dialed Terri and Joe's number.

"Stephanie," Terri said when she answered the phone.

"Good, I got you," I sighed. "Do you know what's going on with Rangeman?"

"Oh God, yes… I'm so sorry. Joe said a couple of your guys were killed and three were severely wounded. He said one of them may not make it."

"Right," I agreed. "Cal's better today. His prognosis is good."

"Thank God," she sighed.

"I need a favor."

"Sure…what do you need?"

"I need to know if we can connect the dots from the family to the hit on Rangeman or if it's an outside contractor. They know a lot about Trenton and either they have killer GPS or they're wired in."

"I'll call you back this as soon as I know something."

"Thanks Terri," I sighed.

"Hey…and officially congratulations on your pregnancy," she said happily. "How is it going?"

"Pretty good all things considered," I smiled. "It's not half bad."

"Yea…I want another one. I'm trying to talk Joe into it now."

"Keep trying. Tell him he's not getting any younger."

"Ain't that the truth," she laughed.

"Bye Terri and thanks."

"Anytime," she agreed.

I went back into the room.

Ranger raised a brow.

"I have someone checking into the doer," I said softly.

He nodded.

My phone buzzed and I checked the readout. "Brian and the Judge will be here at about midnight tonight," I said to Ranger.

"Good," he nodded. "They'll come to the new facility. We've rushed forward. Everyone is there but a skeleton crew at the old offices. We can defend it better."

I nodded.

"We'll put them up there. Brian will need our resources to do what I need him to do."

"Okay. I forwarded their flight information to his phone.

"Thanks Babe," he leaned over to kiss my head. "I'm going to meet the Feds."

"I love you," I smiled.

"Ditto," he beamed.

I laughed, "Very nice."

"It's a start," he grinned.

"Ditto," Lula blinked at me. "He said ditto. Oh man, that's like that movie. You know it had that Demi Moore in it and Patrick Swayze…oh crap, I can't remember the name of it."

"Ghost," I said absently.

"Right…that's it."

"Ghost," I frowned.

"You said that," she shook her head.

"What are you thinking," Tank frowned.

"I'm thinking that I need to talk to Mitch," I said thoughtfully.

"He's off limits to you right now."

"Not if I go to him," I took a deep breath. "I'll head over there this afternoon."

"Steph," he sighed. "You need to stay out of this."

"People I love are in danger," I said taking his big hand in mine. "I will do what's necessary to protect them while being as cautious as I can. Do you hear me?"

"I hear you," he sighed. "He's gonna be pissed.

"He wouldn't have me any other way," I reminded him.

"True," he nodded. "Go with God."

I laughed and kissed his cheek and hugged Lula, "I'm going to go see Woody. I'll see you guys later."

"She's crazy," I heard Lula tell Tank when I left.

"Yep…and she's right. We all love her that way," he replied.

Woody was doing great. Connie was cuddled up with him on the bed. I just kissed them both on the head and left them to do whatever it was they were doing. (For the record, I've never done that IN the hospital. The doctors and nurses frown on it.)

I went to the CCU waiting room and found the florist there delivering our surprises. The nurses all came to hug me. Both of the nurse's stations had received the surprises and I was thinking there would be more to come if Cal pulled out of this as well as I suspected he was going to.

Mike appeared in the doorway of the CCU waiting room and grinned. "Good, you're here. I brought food."

I grinned, "You're a Godsend. It's the very devil to get these guys to abandon their stations long enough to grab a bite to eat."

"Well, I brought enough for an army and for the staff here as well. It's good practice for us."

I hugged him as Tree came in carrying a table. Each of the chefs stopped to hug me as they put their loads down and went for more. The waitresses from Unit were not far behind. They went to speak to each of the men guarding the doors and returned to make them plates and take them to them with drinks and whatever else they may need.

"This is so good of you," I sighed.

Natalie came into the waiting room, "holy crap, there are food, flowers and hunks all over the place."

I laughed and hugged her.

"Hi Mike," she let him pull her into his arms. "You did this?"

"Yep," he nodded and kissed her head. "How is he?"

"He woke up for a few moments this morning," she beamed up at him. "He's going to be here a while, but he's going to live we believe."

"I'm so glad. Did you eat yet?"

"I want to see Cal first, but I promise you I'll eat some of your delicious food."

"If you need anything little Natalie, you'll call me…promise," he raised a brow.

"I promise," she whispered. "You're a good friend."

"You know…I've been away from you guys for too long. I'm glad to be back in the fold. It's insane and exciting, but it's so damn comforting."

"Yea it is," she agreed.

"Natalie," the nurse said from the doorway, "I know it's not time yet, but he's awake. Do you want to go in now?"

"Oh please yes," she beamed and hugged me before hurrying out the door.

"You guys are the best," I said as Smith's arm went around me.

My father chose that moment to come into the room.

"Officer on the deck," Smith said and straightened and saluted. This time even Mike went to attention.

"Geez Daddy, Mike doesn't even salute Ranger," I laughed.

"At ease men," Daddy grinned. "Carry on." He hugged me to him. "How is everyone?"

"Woody's going home tomorrow. Tank will probably go the day after. Cal's here for a while, but he's alive and he's awake. Natalie is with him."

"That is excellent news," he nodded. "I'm out driving the seniors around, but I just wanted to stop by and check on everyone. How is my granddaughter doing," he put his hand on my flat belly.

"She's very well behaved."

"Come on Frank," Ranger said from behind us. "It could be a boy."

"Officer on the deck," one of the guys said.

"At ease," Ranger chuckled at Mike's scowl.

Daddy grinned, "no my boy, I'm pretty sure it's a girl. You must atone for your misdeeds."

"Thanks," he sighed and glanced over at the food laden tables. "Mike…this is great."

"We take care of our own. You know that," he nodded.

"I know that," he nodded back. "We're still very grateful. We're all a little bit…you know, out of sorts right now."

Mike dropped his hand on Ranger's shoulder, "it will come together man. You have to have faith."

"I do," he nodded.

Daddy stayed for a few minutes and then went to stick his head in on Tank and Woody before picking his charges up and returning them to their homes. He promised to check back by later.

The rest of us sat around talking and nibbling on the Chef's wonderful food while waiting for Natalie and for the doctor's latest update on Cal.

Dr. Riley bustled in behind Natalie with a huge smile on his face, "it smells delightful in here."

"Have a bite to eat," Ranger said seriously.

"I may take you up on that. But first let's talk about our patients. We're going to let Woody go this afternoon. Quite frankly the nurses believe that anyone who's able to do what he's done should be long gone from here and I agree."

I snickered.

"As far as Tank goes…is that his name…Tank," he raised a brow.

Ranger nodded.

"Figures, he resembles one," he shrugged. "As far as Tank is concerned, we'll see whether it's tomorrow or after. He's sustained a little more damage. We'd like to be sure he's in good shape before we release him. You fellows need to stay until we're sure you're in better shape than the average patient. You tend to get into more scrapes."

Mike guffawed and Ranger sighed.

"And Cal…is amazing," he shook his head in wonder. "That man has such a strong will. I think you can almost watch him heal if you stand there long enough. He's going to stay in CCU the rest of the day, but we'll probably move him to a regular room tomorrow. We want to watch him closely and make sure we're not getting ahead of ourselves. Suffice it to say, we believe he's going to be just fine."

Ranger sighed in relief and Natalie beamed.

"Now…how are you Stephanie?"

"I'm good," I nodded.

"This isn't too stressful for you and the baby?"

"This is my normal life," I shrugged.

He laughed, "I'll be back later for food. You kids are a hoot."

Ranger and I just looked at each other and grinned.

Ranger and I left shortly after that and headed for the parking garage.

"Where to now," he asked as we walked to the SUV.

"The office," I said seriously. "I need to talk to Mitch. I have some ideas. Also I need to see where you're putting Brian and the Judge. Where are Ella and Luis?"

"In their apartment at the new facility," he said quietly. "They had already been moved."

"Thank God," I sighed.

"Okay, we'll go there. Robert and George are meeting me at the old offices in a couple of hours. Do you want to go?"

"I don't think I can keep from strangling George. What's your plan?"

"Surveillance," he said seriously. "I want to see where George is so we can tail him. I'm going to try to get a GPS on his truck and triangulate his phone. That may be harder. It depends on if he has two phones. The government's phone will be hard to trace, but if he's got another one…"

"That sounds like a good plan. We just need to do it legally so he's down for good," I sighed.

"That's why I want the judge. I want to know who he's got doing it. I also want to know whether Robert is involved. I think I can read his body language enough to know. I think he's clear, but I need another opinion. Especially since I think we'll probably have to read him in before we take action. Also, I reviewed the video of their last visit. Robert wasn't comfortable with what George was saying. They've only been partnered in this for about five years. I think Robert knows something is wrong."

"We have to be sure before we bring him in," I sighed.

"Believe me I know," he sighed. "Your father is using his connections at the pentagon to get me George's military file."

"Really," I blinked.

"You're father is a badass Steph," he grinned at me.

"Well, how about that," I shook my head in wonder. "Send me everything you find including the video. I'll show it to Mitch. He's got to have some memory in his head somewhere that can be triggered."

"Good idea," he nodded as he pulled up to the gate. He flashed his key fob and the first gate opened. We drove a few hundred feet and stopped and the second gate. Ranger rolled down his window and smiled at Hector who was manning the second of the three sets of gates, "Anything going on Hector?"

"It's pretty quiet in there boss," he said seriously.

"Let's hope it stays that way," he nodded. "Pass the word…Cal's going to be fine."

Hector sagged in relief and grinned, "Thanks boss, we could use some good news today."

"I know that's right," he said and steered the SUV through the open gates.

"Make sure you stay inside. I am not expecting another assault on Rangeman, especially an air assault, but you stay inside."

I nodded.

"Okay," he pulled into the first section of the parking garage and waited for the diagnostic to be run. A few seconds later the doors opened and he drove into the garage and parked.

We walked through the tunnel to the building hand in hand.

"Where will you be," he asked as we entered the main office building.

"I'm going to find Mitch," I said seriously.

"Okay, be careful. Remember what I said," he leaned over to kiss me.

"I will. You be careful. I love you."

"Ditto," he smiled softly and punched the button for the elevator. I waved and walked over to the next tunnel and headed for the living quarters.

"Stephanie…," he called.

"Yea," I stopped and turned around.

"Are you okay with Brian being here?"

I smiled, "its fine. I love you."

He nodded and disappeared.

Ditto is close. Ditto is very close.


	25. Chapter 25

Mitch was easy to find. I just called him and told him I was there and he directed me to the fourth floor apartment where he was currently residing.

When I got there, he was unhappy. He'd been on lockdown at the facility since he'd been moved there the night before and he couldn't stand being so helpless. People were dying and he believed he was partially responsible. He wasn't. It was George's problem. But I understood how he felt.

"Do you know anything new," he asked anxiously.

"Some, not much," I sighed. "Cal's going to be okay."

"Thank God," he said running his hand through his hair.

"Ranger doesn't think that Robert is part of this. Brian and his father the judge are on their way from New Zealand. They'll be here sometime tonight. They both have connections that may help us here. I also called Terri Morelli. She's going to check her 'family'" I said inserting air quotes, "connections and find out if he's using local boys or if the talent is imported. If it's local, she can probably put a stop to the hit. If it's imported, there could be some kind of turf war that will still stop the hit and maybe even do more than that. I didn't ask questions."

"More than that," he frowned. "You mean like hit the hitters?"

I sighed, "I don't want to know."

He nodded.

"Ranger's also going to send me some video and he's got my father working on getting George's old military records. If you never worked for him during black ops, maybe the connection is further back."

He nodded grimly, "yea."

"Are you connected to the Rangeman network in here," I pointed to his computer.

"Yea," he nodded.

"Then let's see what he's got me," I said and sat down at his computer and logged in. The top email was from him and it had three connections on it. The first connection was the video of the last meeting. I turned the volume on and Mitch came over with a chair and sat down beside me.

"His face isn't familiar at all," he sighed watching the video. "But the voice is familiar."

"Maybe he's really changed since he was military. He's probably put on a little weight."

"Yea, maybe," he sighed.

"When you were in Afghanistan, did anyone ever see you morph?"

"You mean into the ghost," he asked.

"Right," I nodded.

"No," he shook his head. "Well, if they did they never mentioned it to me."

"Would they? If they did see it, wouldn't they just think they had maybe done one too many missions and probably needed a little time in a rubber room? I'll be honest with you, if I hadn't already seen some shit, it would freak me out."

"That's a good point," he said thoughtfully. "It seems like it would be more likely to be one of ours that saw it if anyone did."

"You never morphed when it wasn't for a mission?"

"You mean for fun or what?"

"Or because you're a guy and there's a girls dressing room near by or something," I raised a brow.

He had the good grace to redden, "I may have. When I was younger I used it much more often than I do now. In the old days I may have used it for lascivious purposes."

"You may have," I raised a brow.

"Okay I did," he sighed.

"All I'm saying is that maybe you were drunk and that's why the memory is hazy."

"That's a good point actually. I have a really good memory for people."

"So…if you were drunk, then maybe you were kind of morphing in and out, you know what I mean?"

He winced, "yea, I know what you mean."

"So maybe you saw something you shouldn't have. Let's get his records and compare them to yours and find out if you were both in some part of the country at the same time when you may have seen something you shouldn't have."

"Good idea," he nodded.

"In the meantime, I have to go and check out the accommodations Ranger is allotting to Brian and his father. I need to make sure they're up to Judge Goodman's high standards."

"Are they going to be here?"

"Sixth floor," I nodded.

"I'll go with," he raised a brow.

"Good," I nodded.

When we arrived on the sixth floor Ella was bustling about making the Judge's bed.

"Hi Ella," I smiled.

"Hello darling girl," she hurried to give me a hug. "How is the bean?"

"The bean is good," I grinned. "How is your new apartment?"

"Decadent," she laughed. "And have you seen my new kitchen? I'll be able to create masterpieces in there."

I smiled, "yea, I'm a little jealous of it."

"Come by anytime and you're welcome to use it."

"Thank you," I smiled. "You've got this place in tip top shape. Ranger and I bought a couple of pieces of art that will complete it. It should be delivered soon."

"They're unloading it now dear," she said with a smile. "They're unloading in the rec room. They didn't want the driver to know too much about our facility."

"Good idea," I nodded.

"Do you know which ones you want? I can get someone to bring them up."

"Yes, but I think it will be easier for me to go and look myself. As soon as they're gone I'll head over there."

"I'll come with you so I can carry them," Mitch said.

"Good," I nodded. "We have to take the tunnel though. I'm not allowed in the sunlight."

"Is there something wrong dear," Ella frowned.

"Yea," I laughed. "My husband is over protective."

"I don't _feel_ over protective," Ranger said from where he was lounging in the doorway.

I laughed, "How do you _feel_?"

"Like my wife needs a spanking," he raised a brow.

"Promises, promises," I grinned. "We're going over to the rec room to grab some art. What are you doing?"

"File," he raised his hand displaying a brown file.

"That file," I asked.

He nodded.

"Mitch's room is this way," I said pulling him toward the elevator. "I'll see you in a bit Ella."

"Bye sweetheart," she waved.

We took the elevator down and went straight to Mitch's room before opening the file.

"He was a lot thinner back then," I frowned.

"Yea," Ranger agreed. "He was in Afghanistan during both of our tours."

"Great," I sighed.

"Can you tell if you guys were ever on liberty at the same time and at the same place?"

"Hold on," he opened his phone. "Yo…cross check the Afghan liberties and get back to me." He closed the phone.

I shook my head.

"What," he frowned.

"Nothing," I smiled.

"There's something back in the back of my mind, but I can't get my…," Mitch groaned. "This is nuts. I know I know this guy. Why can't I put it together?"

"It wasn't black ops," Ranger said. "He wasn't in till you were out. When he did come in, he didn't rise up from operative to desk jockey. He moved straight to desk jockey position. He's never been a player from what I can tell. He's always been a puppet master."

Now, I know I don't speak 'army' or anything, but even I understood that George had never been in the field. How can someone who's never been in the field secure a desk job running operatives that are so top secret that the President of the United States isn't even aware they exist? There was something not right about that. "Was Robert an operative?"

"Yea," Ranger nodded. "He was running ops when I was green. He was almost killed during a low flying op into Tehran. They took him out of the field because his knee is titanium now. That's traceable."

I nodded, "isn't it rare for someone to skip right to puppet master?"

"It's the only time I'm aware it ever happened. I only let it go because Robert's so good. He knows what he's doing. He knows what my odds are from the moment I step off the plane to the moment I land on home soil. George is sort of the go-between between us and whoever needs us to do the job."

"So he's got the shady contacts," I nodded.

"Well, yea…I guess so."

"How did he get those contacts," I raised a brow.

"I have no idea," he said seriously.

"Do you think that you have those kinds of contacts?"

"Yea," he nodded grimly.

"Then maybe you need to do some digging."

"Maybe so," he nodded and got to his feet. "Mitch…do you have anything?"

"I have a vague memory of being in an alleyway somewhere. I know I'm in Afghanistan and I know I'm on leave. I get the feeling I've been drinking. I'm following someone. I see him in a doorway talking to another man."

"Is he the one in the doorway or the one talking?"

"I don't know," he sighed and put his head down. "I have a gut feeling that this is important though."

"Keep on it," Ranger bent down to kiss me, "ditto."

I laughed, "I love you too." I said watching him walk away.

Mitch raised a brow at me, "ditto."

"He's getting there," I smiled.

"Yea, I guess so," he agreed.

"Keep studying the file."

"Why don't we go and see about that art. I'll toss it around in my head while we're gone."

"Sure," I agreed.

He put the file into a safe in the wall and we headed for the elevator and the tunnel.

"So…Brian's coming? This is Christian's brother Brian? The guy who loves you and wants you Brian," he raised a brow as we descended to the lowest level.

I grinned, "Yea, that's the one."

"The only man who made your husband nervous Brian," he said in disbelief. "That's the guy coming here to work for Ranger?"

"Yep," I nodded and opened the tunnel to the rec center.

"He must be feeling pretty secure." He said following me into the tunnel.

"He should be," I nodded.

"So why are they coming here to help?"

"Fenton Goodman was a judge in Boston. He was a state judge. He had and continues to have a lot of connections. There had been a lot of talk about him running for office other than judge. There was even talk at one time about him being appointed to the Supreme Court. He declined the opportunity or he didn't think he'd pass scrutiny or they didn't think they'd like having an ass on the Court." I blinked at him and shook my head, "he's different now."

"Different how," he frowned and turned me toward the right tunnel.

"He…he saw his wife, son and mistress murdered and he had a heart attack. He survived and he's a changed man. He's rebuilt his relationships with his sons. He's the new and improved Fenton Goodman."

"And how is he helpful to us?"

"He knows a lot of important people who know a lot of important things and he can get information that we can't…probably."

"And what about Brian," he asked.

"Brian was in the FBI and he was very good at his job. He also graduated first in his class at Harvard with a law degree. He knows the channels and how to cut red tape so that when we do take him down, he stays down."

"Smart," he nodded. "Was that your idea?"

"That was Ranger's idea," I said with a smile.

"Wow," he blinked. "He's really secure."

I grinned. "He knows I love him."

"I guess so," he nodded. "You do realize that just a couple of weeks ago you were filing for divorce?"

"It was an annulment."

"Same thing," he rolled his eyes.

"You're obviously not Catholic," I raised a brow at him.

He laughed. "Well, you were definitely ending the relationship permanently, weren't you?"

"Yea," I grinned. "That woke his ass up, didn't it?"

He chuckled, "you're a smart and evil manipulative woman Stephanie Manoso. Remind me not to cross you."

"That is always good advice," I giggled.

We dug through the crates of art till I found several that would work in the apartments set up for the Goodman men. Then we loaded them onto an electrical golf cart that had just been delivered and drove them to the other facility. That was two of the things I asked for. I called Ranger.

"Yo," He said when he answered.

"Yo…I like the golf carts."

"Yours is pink and it's parked at the other end of our tunnel," he said.

"Cool," I laughed. "I love you."

"Ditto," he said and disconnected.

Hell ditto is almost as good as goodbye. In some ways it was even better.

Mitch and I set to work hanging the art in the apartments and then to keep ourselves busy we went back and gathered more of the art and started affixing it to walls all over the facility starting with the main lobby.

We stopped when Ella called us to the 'executive' dining room for dinner. The executive dining room was in the main building on the third floor. When we got there Ranger was there along with a few other key employees like Lester, Gabe and Bobby.

"Any luck with the memory," Ranger asked as we ate.

"No," Mitch sighed. "It's there. I know it's there. I just can't grab it."

"Maybe you need hypnosis," Bobby suggested.

"Oh…that's a good idea," I frowned. "Can you do that Bobby?"

"No," he shook his head. "For some reason I can't seem to get the hang of it."

"Maybe you should call Dr. Addison," Ranger suggested. "I think he can probably help us there."

"I wonder if he'd make a house call," I said thoughtfully.

"Promise me that you won't make me cluck like a chicken or plant some subliminal message in my head so that every time I get an erection I have to go put on a dress."

"Oh man…you're a sick shit," Lester laughed. "We wouldn't do that to you. As a matter of fact we wouldn't have even thought of it if you hadn't said something."

"You're safe," Ranger said with a slight smile.

"Right," he shook his head. "Don't pay me back for making you come clean to your wife either."

He grinned, "Would I do that?"

"Fuck yea you would do that," Mitch glared at him. "It turned out right, didn't it? And probably a lot sooner than it would have if I hadn't interfered."

"Okay, put it back in your pants gentlemen," I rolled my eyes. "Bobby what's the word on the hospital front?"

"Woody's home with Connie and resting comfortably," he smiled. "Connie's family is not happy that the man she was going to marry was shot at. They've launched an investigation into who might have done such a thing. If they find him first, the doer will be wearing cement overshoes."

Ranger chuckled. "That's the problem with doing unsanctioned hits in the burg. There are repercussions."

"Yep," Bobby nodded. "Tank is going home in the morning as long as he has a good night. Lula is scaring the nurses to death. They think she's going to have sex with him and send him into cardiac arrest."

"Could happen," I said taking a bite of my rice and shaking my head.

Ranger grinned.

"Cal is awake and talking to Natalie about renovating their scary house. They moved him out of CCU. His parents are there. Her parents are there. He's very well cared for."

"Fantastic," I laughed.

"And Mike and the boys from Unit brought lunch and dinner to the hospital and have promised breakfast in the morning. Mike says that as long as Cal is in the hospital they'll be bringing food by. He says Natalie and her and Cal's parents, the Rangeman employees and the medical personal won't have to worry about a thing. Tree said it was good practice for the chefs."

I sighed, "They're such sweet guys."

"Hussy," Ranger muttered.

I grinned and reached for my phone at the buzz. "Brian and Judge Goodman are at JFK, they'll be here in less than two hours."

"Great," Ranger said.

Ella appeared with a rolling cart, "dessert dears."

"You get dessert in the executive dining room," Lester said in shock.

I laughed.

Ranger shook his head, "Stephanie's idea. Dessert will be made available in all the dining rooms."

"Really," Bobby blinked.

"Really," Ella smiled. "Now I have a lovely sugar free berry tart, sugar free apple crumb pie, and some lemon cake made from Stephanie's mother's recipe."

"Lemon cake," Ranger grinned.

I laughed, "The berry tart for me."

"Babe," he blinked at me, "are you feeling all right?"

"I have to watch my sugar. A lot of women who are pregnant in their thirties risk the onset of gestational diabetes."

He blinked at me, "I'm going to die."

I laughed, "Maybe."

"I don't get it," Mitch frowned as the other guys chuckled.

"Stick around long enough and you will," Lester grinned. "But avoid Ranger for a while. He's going to be really tired."

I laughed. "Ella, what else needs to be done for the Goodman's apartments?"

"I think almost everything is done," she said thoughtfully. "I put the flowers up and the pictures you hung on the wall are perfect. I do so very much like that all the apartments are different now. I don't have to try to remember where I am anymore."

"I like that too," Lester admitted. "If Tank was still here it would keep him out of my place after a night on the town."

I snickered.

"Oh your father did drop by with some books he said you asked for. They're in Ranger's office. It's a couple of boxes full. Are they for the Goodman's rooms?"

"Yes, but don't worry about it," I smiled. "I'll take care of it."

"Okay dear," she smiled and rolled her trolley away.

"I like the executive dining room," Lester sighed.

"Well, you're going to get used to it if you want to. Tank and I will make the announcements at the next staff meeting but we'd like to talk to a few of you about advancement opportunities. We're trying to spread the workload out some. I mean everyone here works, but it's really hard for us to have time with our families the way our operation is currently run. We'd like to make some changes and we'd like to have your input. When Tank comes back to the office, we're going to sit down with some of our key people…including everyone in this room and talk it out."

"Wow," Lester blinked.

"We wouldn't be here if not for you guys. We're all getting older and starting to take on more responsibilities. We want to reward service and performance. Okay?"

"Okay," Bobby nodded happily.

I smiled and pushed my plate back. "Okay, I'm going to go and get those books and make a couple of phone calls. I noticed I still have an office even though I don't come here anymore."

"You'll always have one," Ranger assured me.

"Thank you," I smiled. "So…I'm going to get to work."

"I have a couple of phone calls too," Ranger sighed. "Will one of you guys carry those books for her?"

"I'll do it," Mitch said getting to his feet and dropping his napkin on the table.

"Okay," I got up. "Let's go." I turned to Ranger, "I love you."

"Ditto," he smiled.

"Ditto," Lester blinked at him as we left them. "What kind of shit is that? You can't tell your wife that you love her?" He was quiet for a few moments, "dude," he sighed. "If this is about Melinda or Angela… That wasn't your fault…either time."

"Shut up Santos," Ranger sighed.

"You need therapy," he sighed.

"I'm in therapy you dill hole," Ranger said and I heard his chair scrape back.

"Who are Melinda and Angela," I asked Mitch as we waited for the elevator.

"I don't know about Melinda," he said with a frown. "But Angela was his girl friend when we were in Afghanistan. I remember that name. She was Cuban too. She used to write him these really hot letters."

"Really," I made a face.

"It was a long time ago Steph," he smiled.

"Not long enough apparently," I said stepping off the elevator and heading for Ranger's office.

We put the books in place and then went back to Mitch's room to go through the file one more time. I paused and stopped to gaze at the photo in the jacket for a few moments. I dialed Dr. Addison's number and got the service.

"Dr. Addison's office," the woman said.

"Yes, this is Stephanie Manoso," I said.

"I'll get the doctor right away," she rushed to say.

"No…that's okay," I said but it was too late.

I sighed and hung up. "Let's head over to the offices. Maybe Ranger has heard something back on the cross check."

"What's wrong," Mitch frowned and followed me to the elevator.

"She paged him with a Stephanie Manoso emergency," I sighed.

"What," he laughed.

"At one time I think I must have been quite a handful," I grimaced as my phone rang before I could even punch the call button on the elevator. "Hello."

"Stephanie, this is Dr. Addison. I heard about your friends. Is everyone else all right?"

"Everyone who survived the initial onslaught is improving," I said. "I appreciate you calling me right back, but it's not that kind of emergency."

"Life has gotten really rather boring now that we're only meeting during office hours," he chuckled.

I laughed, "Well, then maybe you will appreciate this call after all. You see the attacks on the office and the other attacks that we've told you about are actually on one person by one person who's hired someone or some people to kill him."

"Oh dear," he frowned.

"Exactly," I agreed. "The thing is that the potential victim's memory is hazy of that particular time of his life. It was twelve years ago and he is pretty sure that he was drunk at the time."

"The time of what," he frowned.

"We suspect he may have seen something that he can't remember."

"Ah," he said thoughtfully. "And you're running out of daylight."

"Two men have died already," I sighed tiredly. "I don't want to lose any more if we can avoid it."

"I understand. I have some free time tomorrow morning at about ten."

"What are the odds you can come to our new facility? A Rangeman employee will pick you up and return you. We're trying to keep Mitch out of the public and hopefully reduce the casualties."

"That sounds like a good plan. Tell them to pick me up at 9:45AM. I shall be ready."

"Thank you Dr. Addison."

"You're welcome Stephanie. It's always an adventure when you're around."

I laughed, "Good night Dr. Addison."

"Good night," he said as he hung up the phone.

"He'll be here tomorrow at about ten to dig into the inner recesses of your brain," I grinned and punched the down button.

"Oh goody," he winced. "You won't let them plant any suggestions will you?"

"No way," I shook my head.

"Thanks Steph, you're a pal," he sighed.

My phone rang again and it was Terri.

"I'm sorry to get back to you so late. Did I wake you?"

"No…don't worry about it. We're still on high alert over here," I said stepping on the elevator.

"I'm sure," she sighed. "It's not a local contractor. The families are pissed. They do not like their territory being invaded by a bunch of high price mercenaries."

"So it's an outside resource," I said thoughtfully as we descended. "When you say outside, are we talking foreign or domestic?"

"Foreign," she said and she sounded really unhappy.

"Do you know the national origin?"

"Afghani," she said with a sigh.

"Holy shit," I groaned as the elevator stopped.

"Is everything okay?"

"It's coming together," I said. "Thank you Terri. I owe you one."

"You don't owe me a thing," she laughed. "I owe you. I'll call you if I get anything else."

"Thanks," I said and closed the phone and stepped off the elevator and right into Brian's arms. "Oh…I'm sorry…oh hi," I grinned up at him.

"Hi," he said hugging me. "You don't look that pregnant."

I laughed, "But I am."

"Stephanie…you look beautiful," Judge Goodman said with a smile. "I'm sorry I wrecked it for you and my boy. I'd have liked to have you as a daughter-in-law."

"Too late for that Judge," Ranger said entering the lobby.

"Ranger," Brian nodded.

"Brian," Ranger nodded back.

I sighed. Men!


	26. Chapter 26

"We were just taking the Goodman's up to their quarters," Lester said after clearing his throat.

"Of course," I nodded. "You must be exhausted. How long were you flying?"

"Nineteen hours," Brian said quietly.

"Good heavens," I groaned and glanced at my watch. "You must have taken the first plane out of New Zealand. Oh my God, is it really one AM?"

"It is," Ranger nodded.

"We'll let you get settled in and we'll see you in the morning," I suggested. "Mitch is going to have his brain poked at by Dr. Addison tomorrow morning. I'm sure you'll want to get up to speed too."

"I'd like to get up to speed before that," Brian said seriously. "What time can I be…can we be briefed," he smiled at his father.

"How about over breakfast at 0830," Ranger suggested, "in the executive dining room in the main building. It's on the third floor of the other building."

"They haven't been bio'd in," Lester said. "They won't be able to get in."

"I'll come and get you," I said cheerfully. "So…I'll see you tomorrow morning at about 8:25? Is that good?"

"That's great," Brian nodded. "See you then."

"Sleep well," I waved and stepped toward Ranger.

"I'll go up with them," Mitch waved.

"Good night," the Judge grinned and stepped on the elevator.

"Hussy," Ranger muttered to me.

I reached around and smacked him lightly on the ass.

"Let's go home," he shook his head.

"Shall we walk," I suggested.

"Good idea," he agreed. "Let's take the stairs down?"

"Sure," I nodded.

"I called Manuel and offered him the job as you suggested."

"And," I raised a brow.

"He'll be here in a couple of days," he nodded.

"That's great," I sighed.

"And I talked to Mooner," he shook his head.

"What did he say?"

"Rangeman Dude," he grinned as he drew out the words.

I laughed, "What else did he say?"

"He said he thought it was time he got his shit together. He's moving onsite and doing some online refreshing. He said he's kept up with the technology growth, but he hasn't actually worked with a lot of the new stuff. His assistant will get him up to speed."

"That's too cool," I said as we paused in front of the panel.

We stepped into the tunnel and I blinked. It was pink. The walls were pink.

"Anyway, they'll both be here soon," he said taking my hand in his.

"Is this Freudian?"

"What," he frowned.

"Our tunnel is pink. Is it Freudian?"

"How is it Freudian?"

"It's pink. You know like the pink walls of my vagina?"

He blinked at me.

"Is it?"

"I don't think so. I'll ask Dr. Addison day after tomorrow when I go back for my appointment."

"Okay…my golf cart is pink too, right?"

He groaned, "Maybe it's Freudian. Maybe we've had a lot of sex lately."

"Maybe," I grinned.

He blinked, "You're planning for us to have sex tonight, aren't you?"

"Is it too much of a good thing," I raised a brow.

"No," he picked me up and put me over his shoulder and picked up his pace in the tunnel.

"Ranger," I laughed as he all but ran.

"I don't want you to be too tired to play when we get home," he said.

I wasn't.

At 8:20 precisely I knocked on Brian's door.

He swung the door open, "hi,"

"Hi," I smiled.

"These are posh accommodations," he said seriously letting me into the apartment. "Do all the apartments have such amenities?"

"Oh yea," I nodded.

"Who's your decorator?"

"Me," I beamed. "So you think I did okay?"

"You did great," he blinked. "This place is great."

"I'm glad you're comfortable. We really appreciate you coming in to help us out here Brian."

"It's my pleasure. Dad jumped on the chance. The computer's very cool. I suspect I'll get more information including passwords after the breakfast briefing?"

"Yea," I nodded.

"Then we better get Dad and go," he said.

"Let's do that."

I took the men to the lowest level and opened the tunnel.

"This is more state of the art than the FBI," he shook his head.

"Well, we're a little more underground," I grinned.

"Ranger's done well for himself," the Judge nodded in satisfaction.

"Yes he has," I smiled.

"How are Cal, Tank and Woody," Brian asked softly.

"Woody is home. Tank's probably out before we finish breakfast. Cal is out of CCU. I'll tell you, we were scared about Cal."

"He's strong as an ox," he smiled.

"Yea," I nodded.

"How is Natalie?"

"Deliriously happy," I beamed. "They bought a house and are getting ready to remodel. The wedding was beautiful."

"I bet," he smiled.

"Do you know that this guy is guilty because of your tingles," the Judge asked out of the blue.

I blushed, "that's part of the reason."

He nodded. "I wouldn't take that lightly."

"We don't sir," I said softly.

"Is the evidence stacking up that way?"

"On the surface," I agreed. "We're still working on connecting the dots. We want a paper trail, but when someone's been in black ops for five years, they get pretty good at hiding things."

He nodded grimly.

"This George was in Afghanistan with Ranger and the guys?"

"Not strictly with," I shook my head and punched the elevator button to go up. "They were there at the same time. They weren't in the same unit, but they were in the same region. Our Intel suggests they were offline at the same time and at the same place. We suspect at this time that the incident probably took place during the second week of July in 1995."

The Judge nodded, "if I'd seen you people working behind the scenes when you were on my case, I'd have rolled over and just waited to be cleared."

I laughed, "thank you sir. Ranger and the men are really good at what they do."

"Don't discount your contribution," Brian said as we stepped off the elevator onto the third floor.

"Oh I won't," I said with a smile. "But like most things in life, this is a team effort."

He nodded. "It looks like a good team to be on."

"I'm glad to hear you say that," Ranger said offering Brian his hand at the door to the dining room. "Did you gentlemen sleep okay?"

"Oh hell yea," the Judge grinned shaking Ranger's hand. "This place is a palace. I could get used to it."

Ranger grinned. "Come have breakfast and we'll get you up to speed."

Forty minutes later the Judge and Brian both had grim expressions and full bellies.

The Judge tilted his chair back and studied the file in his hands. "This guy is dirty. I can feel it."

"That's what Stephanie thinks," Ranger smiled over at me. "She's pretty sure that Mitch saw him do something with or for someone that is illegal if not treasonous."

"That's pretty serious," Brian frowned. "We need something good if he's committed treason."

"Like solid evidence," Ranger nodded.

"Or a confession," the Judge shrugged.

"Would it stand up in court," I frowned.

"Probably," Brian said thoughtfully. "An admission of guilt for a treasonous offense is actually easier to prove guilt with than an admission of guilt for murder. The court system seems to feel that treasonous guilt is more heinous."

"In a lot of cases it is," Ranger nodded, "a murderer usually only kills a single person. A single act of treason could kill hundreds if not thousands or more."

I sighed, "I don't want him to get away with this abuse of power. He's a bad man. I know it. If he'd do this, what else has he done and gotten away with?"

"There's no telling," Brian sighed.

Ranger glanced at his watch. "It's almost 0930 hours. Dr. Addison will be here in half an hour. I'd like to give you a tour of the facility but first we need to get you to the bio center and get you scanned in."

"Really," Brian blinked. "You're going to give us access to the facility."

"I trust you or you wouldn't be here."

"Thank you," Brian said quietly.

"Where are you headed Babe," Ranger glanced over at me.

"I'm going to my office. I'm going to make a few phone calls. Mitch is meeting me over here at five till. We're going to do it in the conference room. I've informed the Com that they're to record."

"Thank you," he nodded. "I'll take Brian and the Judge down to Bio. We'll be back before the hour."

"See you there," I nodded and headed for the stairs.

Mitch and I met Dr. Addison in the lobby and walked him up to the second floor conference room. We briefly discussed the time and Mitch's basic memory of the event before Ranger and the Goodman's returned from Bio.

"Are you going to be comfortable doing this with so many people here," Dr. Addison asked Mitch.

"Yes sir," he nodded. "Just don't let Ranger put any subliminal suggestions in."

Dr. Addison grinned, "I'll take care of it."

Ten minutes later Dr. Addison was surfing through Mitch's subconscious memories. He would stop and pause for a few seconds to make sure that he was in the real memories. He'd glance at Ranger and me for confirmation. Then he took him further down and back into the deeper recesses of Mitch's mind.

"It's the guy in the file," Mitch said and his brow went up.

"Where are you?"

"In the alley," he said with a sigh. "We're in Kabul on leave…I mean as much as you can be on leave while you're in Afghanistan."

"What is he doing?

"He's talking to a man in the doorway."

"What man?"

"I don't know. The man is familiar. I know his face."

"Can you hear what they're saying?"

"They're talking about troop movements," he frowned.

"Troop movements," Dr. Addison frowned over Mitch's head at Ranger.

"The man is handing him a piece of paper. I know the man…its Ali Kahlil Oman," he said softly. "He's a known terrorist."

Ranger's face became very grim.

"What troop movements did they talk about?"

"US troop movements for the first week of August near the borders."

"Which borders," he asked.

"Jalalbad near the Pakistan border, Shir Khan on the Tajikistan border, and Mazar-e Sharif on the Uzbekistan border," he said.

"Why does he want to know?"

"They plan to launch attacks on US Troops. He paid him five million dollars in an account in the Grand Caymans."

Dr. Addison looked up at Ranger and Ranger nodded.

"You will awaken when I count to the number five. You will feel refreshed. You will remember everything. One…two…three…four…five," he said.

Mitch blinked and sat up with a sigh. Then he groaned. "Holy shit…no wonder he wants me dead."

Dr Addison sighed. "May I assume that you got what you wanted?"

"Yes, thank you," I smiled. "I'll walk you out."

"Thank you Stephanie. I assume this is utmost secrecy?"

"Absolutely," I nodded.

"We'll send you a check," Ranger nodded.

"Thank you," he said and we left them alone.

When I returned, the men had a map of Afghanistan on the wall and were plotting the movements and the attacks from Intel sent from the Army. What George got paid to do resulted in the deaths of 7200 men women and children including 800 US soldiers. Fortunately for Ranger and his team, they were in transit when the attacks occurred or they could be part of that statistic.

I just sat back in my chair and listened to the men talk. We'd been joined at some point by Lester, Bobby and Tank. Tank looked a little worse for the wear, but he said he needed to be onsite. Lula was with Ella fixing an apartment for them to stay in until the heat was off.

"I just don't remember that much about that summer," Ranger sighed. "I wish I could."

"We should call Mike," Lester suggested. "He may remember some stuff. And you can call Steve in Seattle too. He could remember some stuff. They were both pretty sane that summer."

Ranger nodded. "I'll do that." He sighed, "Let's take a break. I want to give Brian and Fenton a tour of the facility. They're bio'd in and they've got their passes and IDs. I'd also like to talk to each of you separately. Tank, are you sure you want to be here today?"

"I need to be here today," he said seriously.

"Will you make the calls to Steve and Mike?"

"Done," he nodded.

"Lester, Mooner is coming by at about one, can you show him the lab and introduce him to Tracy?"

"Sure," he nodded and looked over at me in surprise.

"Steph, Manuel hasn't left Cayman yet. Would you call him and see if he can get anything on that wire transfer in July of 1995?"

"I'm on it," I agreed.

He walked over and ran a hand over my cheek, "and maybe you could take a nap? We have an apartment on the seventh floor of this building."

"Always the seventh floor," I smiled up at him.

"Always…seventh heaven has a whole new meaning."

I smiled, "I'll see."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome. I love you."

"Ditto," he whispered gruffly and brushed my mouth lightly with his before leading the men from the room.

I went to my office and dialed Manuel's number and waited as it rang. I got his voice mail. "Hey Manuel," I sighed. "It's Stephanie. Ranger asked me to call you about checking on a lead. Call me back. I need to talk to you anyway. Okay?" I hung up and sighed and went to the elevator and flashed my fob and headed for the seventh floor.

There I had to flash the fob again and press my palm to the panel to open the door to the apartment with Manoso engraved on the pewter plate by the bell. I guess Ranger didn't want anyone barging in on us there. I didn't blame him. There was another door on the other side of the hall and the pewter panel there said Thibodeaux. I knew that Lula was in that apartment making it cozy for her and her Tankie. It made me smile just to think about it.

The apartment was decorated the way our house was decorated. The furniture had to come from Gaby's warehouse. The linens were reminiscent of the one's on our bed at home. The kitchen was better than the old apartment. It was more like our house and was fully outfitted. This apartment also had three bedrooms. I suppose when he built it, he knew we would eventually have the bean. I wondered if Tank and Lula's had three bedrooms as well.

I went into the bedroom and stretched out on the bed. He was right, I was tired. The last couple of days had been traumatic. As much as I loved my husband, I also felt a twinge when I saw Brian. It wasn't a sharp twinge of regret or anything, just a vague sad memory. He looked at me the same way. If Ranger hadn't come around, we may have just ended up together. But it was better this way. Ranger was the love of my life. I couldn't lie to anyone about that, much less myself.

My eyes were just about to drift closed when my phone rang, "hello Manuel."

"Chica…you're speaking to me again?"

"I am," I nodded. "None of this was your fault. You were just stirring up the pot and doing what was necessary to get Ranger's head out of his ass. Don't do it again or I'll kill you though."

"Chica…if I have to do it again, my foot will be up his ass."

I laughed, "You won't. He's in therapy."

"Yea, he told me," he said and I could hear the smile in his voice. "I'll be honest with you Chica…everyone in Trenton needs to be in therapy. You should talk him into hiring a staff psychologist."

"Good idea," I nodded.

"So what's this about checking out something here?"

"It's bad Manuel…we're talking treason."

"Oh shit," he groaned. "What's the name?"

"His real name is George Melendez."

"Great, he's Hispanic," he sighed.

I laughed, "We don't hold it against you. Remember Ranger is Spanish, Lester is Spanish, Hector is…"

"You've made your point," he interrupted me.

"The transfer would have occurred in the third week of July in 1995. The amount is for five million dollars."

"That's a lot of treason."

"It was 7200 lives, 800 were US soldiers," I said softly.

"Fuck," he hissed.

"We need to take this guy down. He's put Ranger in the hospital once and I almost lost him. We almost lost Cal two days ago. We lost two good men who were new to our team. This scumbag needs to go down."

"What do I do if I find it?"

"If you find it and there's money still there. We're going to transfer it out. Let's see how that sits with old Georgie."

"Oh shit," he groaned. "Chica…are you sure you know what you're doing here? If he's committed treason he won't hesitate to erase you."

"I know," I nodded. "It will also make him open his mouth."

"You're right about that," he agreed.

"Just see what you can see," I said. "Then get your ass safely here."

"Done," he agreed.

"Okay…see you soon Manuel. Love you."

"Love you too Chica," he said and hung up.

I rolled to my side and cuddled around one of the billion extra pillows on the bed. It didn't smell like Ranger so it wasn't the same, but it was good enough.


	27. Chapter 27

When I woke up it was getting dark. Ranger was right, I had been tired. He was also sitting in the chair by the bed watching me sleep.

"What are you doing," I smiled lazily.

"Watching you sleep. You look so innocent when you sleep. You don't look like the kind of woman who would drain her husband of any and all of his life's essence so he could hardly function."

I laughed, "Is that what I do?"

"Succubus," he nodded in confirmation.

"It's not that bad. Do you need a break?"

"No," he said adamantly. "Manuel called."

"What did he say?"

"He found the link. He put it in his daughter's name. Brian's working on getting a way to pull it legally. He and Fenton both believe we can do it legally without either of their knowledge, but we'd have to have a government official sign off on it."

"Like Robert," I raised a brow.

"Like Robert," he agreed and slid out of the chair and onto the bed beside me in a single fluid motion. He wrapped his arms around me and held me to him tightly, "you're never going to leave me right?"

"I'm not leaving," I assured him. "You've certainly done your best to make me in the last several months but…"

He sighed, "I know…I've been an ass. Believe me enough people are telling me. Your father wanted to kill me. He knew I wasn't drunk. He knew I had to have had a hand in the wedding. He knew Manuel wouldn't have done it on his own. He knew…"

"I figured that. I told him that I'd told you I wouldn't trap you that I loved you and I didn't want to do that to you. He said he wondered if you'd do the same for me."

He groaned, "He's been giving me hell. If he didn't think he knew how I felt about you, he probably wouldn't have given me the time or the chance to fix things."

"I'm sure of that."

"Your father is a good man."

"I know. My husband is a good man too."

"I try to be, but I've made a lot of mistakes in my life."

"We all have honey."

"I mean big mistakes. I've killed people."

"But they were all bad," I teased.

"I certainly believed that," he agreed with a slight smile.

"You're a good man," I said softly and rolled over to look up at him in the darkened room. "If your core wasn't good, I wouldn't…I couldn't love you."

"Thank you. You have always believed in me. But you have stopped calling me Batman."

"Dr. Addison said to give you a real name. Your name is Ric."

He nodded and kissed my nose.

"Who are Miranda and Angela," I said softly.

His entire body tensed.

"It's too hard?"

"No," he shook his head, "yes, but I want to tell you."

"Tell me."

"You know when I was younger I was a…"

"Slut," I suggested.

He laughed, "You can say slut. I'd say lothario."

"Right," I rolled my eyes.

"Anyway," he sighed. "I met Miranda when I was sixteen. I was pretty sure that I was all that. I mean I believed it. She was a girl from the other side of the fence. Most of the girls who liked me were Hispanic like me and usually Cuban too. But Miranda was blonde with green eyes and legs two miles long. She was beautiful. She was sixteen and I fell in love. Well, I sure thought I was in love." He sighed. "We were together all the time. Her parents didn't approve. They called me all the names reserved for someone of my ethnicity that was derogatory. Miranda fought it. We talked about running away when we turned eighteen and getting married and just escaping Trenton and her parents and my parents and all the rules." He laughed. "I think I really believed it would happen at the time. One Saturday night, we made love for the first time. She was a virgin. I finally told her that I loved her. Before that I'd just said me too when she said it. I took her home after that and the next day I tried to call her and got no answer so I went over there. I guess I thought her parents must just know what we'd done and grounded her or something. There were police cars all over the place. Someone had broken into their house and killed everyone in it. It was later found to be a gang from my side of town. They were my people. I was probably related to some of them. I figured they had to know about her through me. I blamed myself. I was sixteen."

"Oh honey," I sighed.

"Then after I joined the Army I met Angela. Angela was Cuban and therefore a little more safe. I spent every moment with her when I had any kind of leave. I was nineteen and horny as hell and I think she was as bad as I was. It kind of reminds me of us," he chuckled, "only our sex is much better."

"Good answer," I shook my head.

He smiled and kissed my head. "I thought I was in love. Anyone having that much sex had to be in love. And she did things that other girls I'd dated wouldn't have even thought of doing. So I decided I was in love. I came home on leave and I proposed to her and told her that I loved her. She accepted and I went back out." He sighed. "She was killed in the spring of 1995 by gang bangers. The general consensus was that it was random. But in my mind, it was all connected. I'd told two girls that I loved them, and they were dead. It was my fault."

"Oh," I whispered. "So…you never said it again."

"Right," He sighed. "In my mind I completely equated loving someone with their murder. Maybe inside me I knew I was in love with you, but I couldn't say the words. As the feeling got stronger…I was more terrified. How I feel about you makes how I felt about any other woman seems so…" He sighed and ran his hands through his hair fighting for control.

"It's okay," I said softly.

"I never even thought about saying it till you," he finally said with a sigh. "Rachel and I were sort of a wild couple of months when I was home on leave. It was all about the sex. She'll tell you that. Back then, she was a lot wilder than she is now. She turned out pretty good, but that summer she was a wild child. I wasn't in love with her, but she was like Angela sexually…you know willing to do anything, so we spent the summer doing it. When I found out she was pregnant I married her and moved her into base housing. She left me about a month later. A summer of passion was one thing, but full time Ricardo Carlos Manoso was another thing all together."

"I don't know," I smiled. "I kind of like it."

He laughed, "I like it too." His expression sobered. "I felt it pretty soon after I met you. It scared the shit out of me and I didn't want to do anything to hurt you. Besides, my life was pretty fucked up. I was running high octane black ops back then and I was a risk to everyone including myself. I didn't want to bring you into that. I cared too much about you. Then before I knew it, you told me that you were in love with me. I think I knew before you told me, but I was floored. Every fear I'd ever had came crashing down on me and I let you go because I was afraid to keep you. I was afraid that some fucking gang from my old neighborhood would kill you too…like the fucking Slayers weren't close enough."

I sighed, "Ric…"

"I know," he sighed. "But I've been this way for almost twelve years Babe. It's hard for me to let go of the fear. That's what's draining me so much in therapy. Oh hell, I talk about other stuff too. I've told him about things I've done for God and country and it's good to just say it out loud. He doesn't judge me. He's a good therapist."

"Yea, he is," I agreed.

"We should get one on staff," he sighed.

"Manuel said that himself," I sighed.

"Manuel," he frowned.

"Yea, when I told him to check on the five million," I said absently.

"Right," he nodded.

"Why are you telling me this now? Is it because I asked you about them or what?"

"I had already decided to talk to you about it, but yea that pushed it. I watched Brian look at you and saw how much he cares about you. He does love you. He wants you to be happy and he's willing to sacrifice what he now believes is his only chance at happiness for yours. Do you see that?"

I sighed.

"It just made me think about whether I really deserved you and if I did deserve you, didn't you deserve to know the truth? You do deserve it Steph. I deserve you and you deserve the truth."

"I know you deserve me," I sighed and snuggled into his warmth. "Who else could tolerate all my insanity? You think you're getting such a prize, but in all honesty you've gotten a big old albatross."

"That is a matter of opinion," he smiled and nuzzled into my face.

"Yea," I sighed.

He groaned as his phone buzzed on his hip. He flipped it open, "Yo." He paused to listen. "We're on our way down." He flipped the phone closed. "Well…so much for sharing. We need to head to the conference room on two."

"What's up?"

"We have updates," he said seriously.

"Okay," let me wash my face and do my business and I'll be down."

"I'll wait for you," he said softly and kissed my forehead.

"You so love me," I grinned and hopped out of bed.

"You know even when I was qualifying things, I never said I didn't," he said softly.

I paused at the door and looked back at him in wonder, "no, you didn't, did you?"

"I didn't," he smiled.

"Hmm," I sighed and disappeared into the bathroom.

We walked into the conference room to find it loaded with our most trusted people. Tank beckoned us to the front of the room. This was the room we'd have briefings in when we got back to normal. It had a podium with a table and chairs on a dais. On the floor in front of it were lines of comfortable chairs with small tables that folded up.

Tank leaned over and whispered to Ranger.

"Move him here. Hire whatever staff we need. Bring everybody into the house. I mean it…everybody."

Ranger got to his feet and leaned over the podium. "I'm glad to see you all here. We have a lot going on and unfortunately, it seems that bad stuff is taking over for the good stuff. But before we get into the bad, and there's plenty of it, let's light on some good stuff. We're here in our new facility and it's fully operational."

There was a cheer.

"Those of you who are already living in house, I hope you've found your digs comfortable. Get ready to share though; we've got rough seas ahead." He paused. "I'd like to welcome some new members to our team. First is Walter Douglas Dumphry," he smiled. "Most of you know him as Mooner and he's got a bit of a rep here. But you don't know he's a bio physicist who graduated first in his class at MIT and he's brilliant. He's like scary brilliant. He's taking over our bio department. He's going to be detoxing for a while, so be patient with him please. He's a good man."

Everyone clapped and welcomed Mooner.

"We're also welcoming Jenna Herschel and her dogs Andromeda and Perseus. Andromeda and Perseus are special dogs. Andromeda is a blood hound of the highest order. She's a tracker. Perseus is a cadaver dog. The way things are going with us this is an important thing to add. We also believe this will be a valuable service to our clients. We'll be adding more people and dogs to this department as the service becomes more needed. Welcome Jenna."

I followed Ranger's hand to see the woman in the back of the room leaning against the wall. She didn't have the dogs with her, but she had to be the right person. She had an air about her that made me believe she wouldn't take nonsense from man or beast. She was also very, very pretty. She was a few inches shorter than me, and in the rhat room full of men she appeared absolutely diminutive. She was also very curvy. I saw Lester glance over and lick his lips as everyone clapped and welcomed her. Marina wouldn't like that. I grinned. She must have caught it too because she rolled her eyes before she met mine and grinned back. We'd be friends.

"We are also welcoming Manuel Forturo to our midst." He looked up and saw a sea of surprised faces. "I know, Manuel is believed to be the head of the former Forturo drug family. It's never been proven. Before he was alleged to hold that position, he was in the Los Angeles Crime Lab. He's a genuine CSI. He wants to come back to the states, and we're happy to welcome someone with his credentials to our family."

They clapped, but they were confused.

"We'd like to welcome Judge Fenton Goodman to our team in Acquisions. He's going to be hobnobbing with everyone and may take on more responsibility or different responsibility as time goes on. But getting him is a huge coup for us."

The crowd clapped loudly and I grinned and winked at Fenton.

"We're also adding Brian Goodman as our legal representative. You all know that Brian is a highly decorated FBI agent. He also graduated first in his class at Harvard Law. To have him with us is flattering to no end."

The crowd thundered its applause. Brian was already liked.

"Besides new people and more will be added, we'd like to recognize a few others. Tank would you like to take this?"

Ranger sank down beside me and took my hand and Tank took the podium.

"I'd like everyone to congratulate Bobby Brown as head of our Medical Department. Most of you know that Bobby went to medical school and passed but he never got his license. He's licensed now. You may now call him Dr. Brown. He will be leaving the field and operating here at the facility as our Doctor in residence. Our new state of the art facilities will enable him to care for us here without bothering other medical professionals in Trenton. We will be adding to his staff, but Dr. Brown will be the head of that department from here on."

Thunderous applause again filled the room.

"Taking over as the head of security will be Cal Henderson when he gets out of the hospital. Cal did what was necessary to save almost everyone in the building when our facilities were attacked a few days ago. He will be dialed in completely in the future. He will also be coming off rotation and manning a desk primarily. He will also evaluate you in the field. You may expect that department to grow as well."

After a few moments of applause Tank continued again. "Taking over as head of Sales will be Lester Santos," he grinned as they all clapped and laughed. "Everyone here knows Lester. They know he can charm the pants off of anyone including Stephanie's Grandma Mazur," they all howled with laughter. "Since Stephanie is stepping down to become a mother…we think Lester is the logical replacement. He takes over as head of sales immediately."

"Hal Green takes over as head of personnel. He will handle all hiring and field assignments. If you want to stay in the US versus Siberia, I suggest you find a way to be nice to him. He can make your life pleasant or miserable." He paused for their applause. "Woody Johnson takes over as head of special projects as soon as he comes back from a medical leave. Woody has also been with us from the beginning and I know you'll all be supportive to him as well." He paused again.

"And Ram…we haven't gotten to talk to you, but we have something in mind for you." He looked at the man in question pointedly.

"Last but not least Mitch Wheeler will be taking over as lead tactical advisor and administrator. I know you all realize how important this position is in our company. We need someone ready willing and able to make strategic decisions and plan operations all the time. And Ranger and I want to take more family vacations," he grinned and everyone laughed. "So thank you to everyone who's willingly agreed to take over these assignments. Please note that while the names mentioned with Unit, that doesn't mean that if you weren't in our Unit there's no place for you. Fenton and Brian are proof of that. It just means that these men have been with us from the beginning and they absolutely have been loyal. They earned their position and there are plenty more to be filled. That being said, for the most part for the corporate facility of Rangeman our executive staff is in place."

He paused, "more of you will take over in other areas of the business over the next several months. Ranger and I want this company to be able to run without us. We believe we've hired extraordinary people who are capable of anything they want to do. We believe in you all. We are going to be offering all kinds of incentives soon including educational opportunities as well as other chances for advancement. This office isn't the only one changing. Our Miami, Boston, Richmond, DC, and Atlanta offices will be making a few changes as well, but know that corporately…the people we've promoted here will be over everyone. We intend to be national eventually. And we're also very interested in diversifying as you know we already have Sizzlin and its brought a bigger influx of revenue in that expected under Natalie's leadership. We will probably buy other companies and invest more in others. We need good men and women in order to do that. There will be opportunities for anyone who is willing to do the work and make the moves. I'm going to turn this back over to Ranger now so he can get to the bad stuff."

They nodded grimly and Ranger got back up. He sighed and leaned on the podium tiredly. "We're facing a big challenge. We've lost two men, two innocent men, who had nothing to do with the problem at hand. The problem as we believe it to be is a rogue government official who has operated outside the law for more than fifteen years. We believe he committed treason and he's trying to erase the only US citizen he believes can identify him as being a traitor."

The men and women in the room gasped in shock.

"We're bringing everyone into the facility or sending them somewhere safely out of reach," he held up his hand at the murmurs of protest. "We've lost two men. We almost lost Cal and if not for his quick thinking we could have lost at minimum two more. You need to take this threat seriously. This man doesn't care who he hurts. We believe he is responsible for the loss of more than seven thousand lives during one incident alone." They gasped again. After a few moments of silence he began again. "If you're currently dating anyone that you've been seeing for some time to the point that people consider you may be headed for permanence, we'll send them far enough away to keep them safe until this is over. Husbands, wives and children will be brought inside. We want to keep you all safe. If there is some reason why that won't work for you and your situation, please get with Hal as soon as possible so he can work with you to reach an agreeable solution to both of us.

"If you have questions that we haven't answered yet or we are not able to answer publicly yet, several people are dialed in who can help you. You may ask several people here in this room. Stephanie, Brian, Fenton, Lester, Bobby, Hal, Tank, Mitch and I are all completely dialed in. The rest of our core team will be dialed in as they arrive. Ask if you need to know. Share what you know. We need to keep the lines of communication open. You could have seen something you don't realize you saw. No piece of information is insignificant. Talk to the people I've mentioned if you think you know anything.

"We'll be available for questions for the next hour right here. After that, the core team will move upstairs and meet again for about two hours. During that time we need privacy unless something significant happens. Thank you."

We were all busy for the hour. There were a lot of questions. There was some information to be shared. The hour was important and informative.

At the end of the hour Ranger whistled and the core group left the conference room and headed upstairs for our private meeting.

"Impressive," Fenton nodded. "They grasped the situation quickly and asked important and pertinent questions."

"I've been to a million briefings," Brian sighed. "They never go that well."

"You must have worked with a bunch of idiots," I teased and nudged him.

"No kidding," he rolled his eyes.

By the time our two hours holed up were done, we'd learned a lot and made a lot of decisions. First we learned that the money had been transferred and could be traced, even after all this time, to an anti-American terrorist group. When George set the account up in his daughter's name, she was a newborn. The money in that account had grown over the years to almost one billion dollars. It was clearly illegal. We'd also been able to clear Robert completely and we'd been able to reassure ourselves that he was clean in every other way. We discussed all of our options, and after a long and arduous discussion on legalities and protecting our asses and coming out as clean as we could, we made the biggest decision we had to make.

We decided it was time to dial Robert in.


	28. Chapter 28

I woke up the next morning in my own bed with Ranger curled around me and his breath moving my hair. I wasn't nauseous. I wasn't sore. I wasn't sated. I was just glad to be alive and in his arms. Life wasn't too bad.

"Good morning," he murmured from my hair.

"Good morning," I sighed.

"This is going to be a busy day."

"I know," I said softly.

"What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to go in to the office and be available mostly," I said seriously.

"I think that's a good plan. Manuel should be here today by noon. I told him to come on in. I think we can protect him better here. Hector's built us an arsenal."

"We need one," I sighed.

"It certainly appears that way," he agreed. "When this is over, we're taking a vacation. I need a vacation."

I laughed, "I'd like that."

"Good," he rolled to his back. "Come on Babe. Let's do this thing."

"Let's do this thing," I agreed.

Robert arrived at the office at about nine and he was alone. He didn't look happy. I had this gut feeling that he knew what was coming. I had a feeling that Robert had been suspicious of his partner for some time. He and Ranger holed up in Ranger's office for hours. When Robert emerged, he looked grim. He also looked determined.

He went to an empty office and began making phone calls. An hour later my fax machine started going ballistic. It was the federal government's full disclosure of George Melendez. It was a lot of paper.

"The money is transferred to your off shore account," Robert said to Ranger in the hall outside my office. Start moving it now."

Ranger stuck his head into Brian's office which was across the hall from mine and instructed him to begin the transfers.

"We used government lines that aren't traceable," Robert assured him. "He'll believe its you anyway."

"I know," Ranger nodded.

"Put in a lot of different accounts."

"Not a problem," Ranger nodded. "Brian and I have been setting them up in the last hour all over the US."

"Good," he clapped him on the back. "What's next?"

"We need the confession. We have to reel him in. He's smart. It won't be easy and I don't want you involved."

"In case you have to get ugly," he smiled. For the first time I could see how Robert and Ranger were alike. There was something in his eyes. It was a gleam of pure determination with a lot of steel and a little bit of fury. It was scary.

"Yea," Ranger nodded.

"It doesn't matter. This is sanctioned. It should be on your wife's fax machine."

I turned and dug through the papers and found the one he'd referenced and gasped.

Ranger stuck his head in my office and saw the paper in my hand and grinned. "Is that what I'm looking for?"

"Put it somewhere really, really safe," I blinked.

"Done," he grinned and kissed me.

"What do I need to be doing?"

"Go over his complete file with a fine tooth comb. Find a weakness Babe. Everyone has a weakness. We'll meet in the conference room at four on this floor. We'll kick around some ideas, go over our options and make a plan."

I nodded. "I'm on it."

"Do you need help? Would you like another set of eyes?"

"Yea," I sighed. "I really would. I think Fenton is the right person."

He nodded. "I'll ask him to join you."

"Okay," I agreed.

"I'm on my way to my session with Dr. Addison. You know how to get me if you need me, right?"

"Right," I nodded.

"Ditto," he winked and left my office.

"I love you," I called after him.

I turned around and scanned the file and printed a copy and reached for my phone.

"Hello," I said softly.

"Hey Steph," Terri said with a sigh.

"Hey Terri, how are you?"

"Okay…listen, the families have found the outsiders and are dealing with the situation. They're cooperating fully on it. It's like some kind of joint effort. I don't know, but this may be the first time that has ever happened. I doubt you see it on the news. It's underway. Tell your guys that this threat is being dealt with, but your doer will probably find more talent somewhere."

"Thanks Terri, I owe you."

"No you don't. The families believe you've done them the favor. They owe you."

"That's never a bad thing, is it?"

She laughed, "Definitely not."

"Take care."

"You too," she said and disconnected.

Fenton arrived in my office a few minutes later and I gave him the original and took the copy because I could view it on my computer if it wasn't clear. He sank to the sofa with a highlighter and a yellow legal pad and started poring over the file. I knew we were going to be friends then. He had his yellow legal pad and I had mine.

We worked for over an hour, and then we stopped and went to lunch in the executive dining room. We enjoyed our lunch of cold chicken salad with fruit and some light pasta salad. We chatted with Lester and Bobby about everything but the file we were reviewing. Then we left them alone and headed back to the office.

I have to tell you, by the time I was halfway through the file I was a little nauseated and I was pretty sure it had nothing to do with the bean currently gestating nicely in my womb. I was pretty sure it was because George was a very, very bad man. I saw Fenton's face tighten a few times as he read and studied. I was pretty damn sure we were on the same page.

He finally stopped and flung the papers aside and rubbed his face with both hands. "This is the kind of shit you guys normally deal with?"

"Ranger does, yea," I nodded. "Our last little jaunt into the insane was my arch nemesis Joyce Barnhardt."

"Arch nemesis," his lips twitched.

"Laugh if you want to, but she murdered my ex husband, blew up my house and my car and shot at us on multiple occasions. The last time I was on stage with Ranger filming a talk show…"

"A talk show," he interrupted me with an incredulous arch of his brow.

"Yep, you've heard of Brenda?"

A smile slid over his handsome face, "oh yea. I have a little thing for her."

"Really," I grinned. "I wouldn't have thought a wild child like her would be your type."

"You'd be surprised," he chuckled.

I laughed, "anyway…she's a friend sort of and she wanted me to do it. Joyce lost her mind and starting shooting in front of the studio audience."

"What happened?"

I shifted uncomfortably. "I can't tell you all of it, but I will tell you that she was captured and now after some psychological evaluation she's spending time in a rubber room on a lot of necessary drugs."

"Why can't you tell me," he frowned.

"You wouldn't believe me if I did," I said honestly.

"Try me," he relaxed on the couch and smiled.

"Okay…Trenton is the suck zone," I said seriously. "Basically that means that there is magic here or near her and magical people or 'unmentionables' are drawn here. Unmentionables are people with extraordinary gifts. Some gifts are good, some are bad, and some are just weird. But a lot of people here are gifted. Some of them work here at Rangeman. One of them can disappear. He can't disappear completely, but sort of blend with his surroundings. He did that, got the gun out of her hand and neutralized her. She is not unmentionable or she'd have been neutralized by someone else who is sort of the Unmentionable police. They neutralize or lock the baddies up in some place like Azkaban," I rolled my eyes.

"Unmentionable police," he frowned.

"Mitch's cousin Diesel is one of them. He's probably the best if you can believe half of what he says."

He shook his head, "I was on the bench a lot of years Stephanie. It's nice to have a rational, at least to me, explanation of some of the stuff I've seen."

"You believe me," I blinked.

"Who can make that shit up," he shrugged and laughed.

"True," I nodded.

"You're unmentionable…that's the tingle. You know the good guys and the bad guys and that's how you get so many of them around you." He said the words matter-of-factly.

"Yes," I agreed.

"Good to know. If I ever date again, I'll introduce you to her first."

I laughed, "You'll date again. You're only seventy. You won't be alone forever."

"Maybe you'll even introduce me to Brenda," he waggled his brows suggestively.

"I could do that," I nodded, "but you may not appreciate it in the long run."

"You'd be surprised," he grinned. "You'd be surprised."

I have a feeling Fenton Goodman is a kinky, kinky man.

"So…do you see any weaknesses," he asked.

"The mistress is out. The wife is out. But the daughter…I might consider her as his biggest weakness. He put the money in her name and not his wife's. He's made it a point to attend all of her recitals, dance programs and sporting event. He's got a thing for his baby girl."

"That's disgusting," he grunted.

"I don't necessarily mean sexually," I shook my head. "He just has her on a pedestal. I believe she's our way in."

"But how," he frowned.

"That's the sixty-four billion dollar question," I tapped my finger nail on my front tooth. "Hopefully when we present our findings someone will have an idea. What do you think?"

"I think the daughter is a good way. I also think his ego is a good way. I should know, I have one the size of Alaska. But a combination of the two weaknesses may just work for the best. I'd like to know what his relationship with his daughter is like. I mean really before we go forward."

"Maybe we can find something out. We have about thirty minutes till our meeting. Why don't we give it one more once over? We'll present our findings and see what everyone else thinks."

He nodded, "good plan."

Thirty minutes later we were in the executive conference room. Ranger, me, Tank, Lester, Bobby, Woody, Fenton and Brian were present. Robert was also there.

"I think everyone here knows Robert except Fenton and Brian. Robert is a handler with a government division that is so far underground that the lines are fuzzy and the jobs are even fuzzier. He's George's partner. This is the black ops division that we've, maybe especially I, have been working with for the last eight to ten years. He went up through the ranks starting as an operative and moving to a desk after a life threatening injury. He's a good man. He's gotten me out of some tough situations. I trust him."

Fenton glanced over at me, "do you trust him?"

I nodded.

"Good enough for me," he nodded.

Ranger grinned. "Robert is dialed in to our situation. He's assisted us already in moving funds and setting up our issue. Now we have to decide how to take him down. You should know that the take down is up to us. We are sanctioned to do what is necessary. By any means, this threat is to be neutralized. Are we clear?"

We all nodded grimly.

"Good," he said calmly. "Stephanie and Fenton have been going through his records looking for a weakness. Do you have anything?"

Fenton looked at me, "take it."

I nodded, "it is our belief that he has two weaknesses that are vulnerable. The first weakness is his daughter Jamie. Jamie is twelve years old. She was born just prior to his deployment to Afghanistan. He put the payoff money in her name and has continued to feed money into the account ever since. He's put all of his eggs in her basket. He's made certain to attend every recital, program or event the child has been in. He has not done so with his other two children…both boys. We believe she's his favored child. He loves her unconditionally. We believe he's weak for her and will do whatever is necessary to protect her."

Bobby grimaced, "do you think the relationship is unnatural?"

"There's no evidence to suggest that," I sighed. "Fenton brought that up. I'd love to have her school records or anything else that would give us insight. At this point I can't say one way or the other."

He nodded.

"What's the other weakness," Robert asked.

"His ego," I smiled.

Robert laughed. "You're absolutely right about that one."

Fenton grinned. "I think using a combination of both would be our best bet."

"Now figure out how," I grinned.

"I think we need the Intel on the daughter first," Brian said certainly. "If there's an unnatural relationship there…it's easily exploited and gives us another toehold to hold him, at the very least, until we can prove the treason."

"How do we get the Intel?"

"Leave that one to me," Robert said grimly. "I can get it. He better not be doing anything with Jamie. You won't have to worry about killing him. I'll do it with my bare hands."

"Okay…that's settled," Lester nodded.

"Robert…we're sanctioned," Ranger said seriously, "you're not. Let us handle it."

"Someone will do it," he glared.

"I'll take him out slow," Tank assured him. "It will be painful."

I grimaced and Fenton patted my hand.

"Thank you," Robert nodded. "I'll go make some calls." He left the room.

Ranger sat back, "this is sanctioned. What George has done has literally killed thousands of men women and children and from more than just the incident we can knowingly connect him to. Brian's been tracing the money. What have you found out?"

"He's received funds from Mafia, Al Qaida, Cuba, Afghanistan, several former Soviet republics and some very ugly individuals who do some very scary brokering. I'd say George has been giving away US secrets practically from the cradle. He may be your Manchurian Candidate. He just did his dirty work behind the door. He's bad. He's really bad."

"Do you have a problem with killing him?"

"Give me a gun. I'll do it," he said seriously.

I blinked.

"Judge…what about you?"

"Happily," he grimaced. "If I find out he's been molesting his daughter, I'll fight Tank for the right to torture him."

Tank snickered and winced.

Fenton grinned at him.

"Steph…do you want to stay in the loop? I know you have killed before."

"It was a while ago," I said in a small voice.

"Could you kill him?"

I sighed, "To protect my life or someone else's yes." I took a deep breath, "but I don't think I'm a good candidate to do a hit…especially one where torture is involved."

He grinned, "I wasn't thinking you'd want to. I just want to know if you want to stay dialed in."

"Oh…sure," I nodded. "But maybe you could keep some of the details to yourself. I mean…the less of us who know the better…right?"

He nodded.

"So where do we stand," Lester asked.

"We're waiting for Robert's Intel," Ranger said. "When we get that, we'll go forward. I suspect it won't be till tomorrow at the earliest. Everyone get some sleep. It's going to get hairy."

Everyone nodded and got to their feet and left as I stayed where I was with my eyes on my husband.

Fenton rubbed my shoulder lightly when he went by. We'd done our part. It was clear that everyone thought we'd done it well. Maybe even a little too well.

When the last person was out of the conference room Ranger finally spoke. "Are you really okay with this Babe? This is a lot like my life was when I was 'in the wind'."

I nodded. "I'm not sure I want to have my eyes completely opened to all that you've done. I doubt it would change anything. I love you. I'll love you till I die. I know this is the right thing. I'd just like George to suffer. I would rather he face a public trial."

"I know," he sank down in Fenton's vacated chair and took my hand in his. "The powers that be don't want George's misdeeds brought to light. If they're out in the open, it makes them look bad. You do understand that?"

"I do," I agreed.

"If we neutralize him this way, everyone is better off."

"I don't know about everyone," I sighed.

"George's wife and children will be protected for life. Trust me."

"What happened to the money?"

"It's ours…Rangeman's. Some will go to James and Mark's families. Some will go to pay hospital bills. Some will sit and wait till we need to do something else. Fenton is in acquisitions, remember," he smiled. "Who knows what company we'll buy?"

"Like Vinnie's bond office," I grinned.

"Fenton will be looking into that as soon as we're cleared from this case."

"Seriously," I grinned.

"Yea, we're looking into that. I'm not sure we won't just start our own little bonds agency. Everyone knows we do Vinnie's big bonds. I'm not sure. I need to see what the cash flow is on that."

"Good idea," I nodded. "So…how was your session today?"

"Better," he said softly. "It's easier now that I've told you the basic of it. Dr. Addison thinks I'm about ready for a break through," he grinned sheepishly.

"Already," I blinked. "It took me months."

"I have a mission," he raised a brow at me.

"What's your mission?"

"You forever," he said softly and breathed soft kisses on my temple. "What do you want to do now?"

"Go home, make dinner, make love and sleep," I said softly.

"That sounds perfect," he smiled and leaned forward to kiss me.

"I love you."

"Ditto," he smiled against my mouth. "Take me home and show me."

"Let's go," I laughed.


	29. Chapter 29

I could feel when I woke up that it was going to be one of _those_ days. You know the kind I mean. It's the kind where a lot of unsettling things happen. How did I know? Ranger wasn't in the bed with me for starters. And because I just know. When I went to the balcony and looked down over the great room, he was sitting on the couch naked talking on the phone…to Robert. His expression was grim. His body was tense. I had this sudden horrifying feeling that Jamie Melendez had suffered at her father's hands. I wanted to hurt him then. I felt Robert's wrath. I felt Tanks wrath. I felt Fenton's wrath. My hand moved to my unborn child in my womb and I sighed. That wouldn't be my daughter's fate. I'd kill the man first. It wouldn't be a good solution for the children though. It was better that these men deal with it. It was much better. Mrs. Melendez could concentrate on her children then.

I don't think I made any noise, but Ranger's head moved and his eyes found me easily on the balcony. He stared at me. I knew what he was saying. He was promising me that our daughter would not suffer such atrocities. He was saying that George would pay. He was telling me that he loved me. He was telling me that he would protect us. Then as his eyes moved down to my bare legs showing between the rails, his eyes darkened and he said he'd be there in a minute and I shouldn't get dressed.

I grinned.

He smiled.

So that's what it's like to have that silent communication with your partner. I went to the bathroom and did my morning routine. I brushed my teeth and attempted to tame my insane sex head. I realize now after being in a good strong sexual relationship with Ric for a while that the more intense my orgasms are, the messier my hair is the next day. And if you make them plentiful, forget it. My head sort of resembles a gorgon. I had gorgon head today. I grinned at it and set to work taming it. I was still working on it when he came into the bathroom and wrapped around me from behind pressing his rising erection against my ass.

"There's no point in that yet," he whispered as his lips moved over my neck.

I sighed and let my head drop against his shoulder, "no?"

"No," he murmured as his fingers slid over my breast.

"It's going to be a bad day today," I whispered.

"Not all of it," he smiled as his fingers slid lower. Easily they slid inside of my body teasing, torturing, retreating and returning with practiced ease. He knew my body.

My body knew him. I was ready for him the moment I'd read the promise in his eyes from the balcony. Immediate puddles formed between my legs. I sighed, "Ric…"

"Yes Babe," he whispered in my hair.

"Oh God Ric," I groaned as the orgasm suddenly descended on me from nowhere. My internal muscles clenched around his fingers and he didn't stop. He kept it going and within a few moments replaced his fingers with his throbbing erection. He entered me from behind squatting to better reach me and keeping his fingers busy on my nipples and lower while his mouth worked exquisite torture on that spot on my neck. He had barely stroked twice before I came again.

He groaned, "Slow down Babe."

"I can't," I panted. "It feels too good."

He slid out of me and picked me up and took me to bed. He put me in the middle and dropped over me and reentered my body gazing at me as he did. "Forever Babe," he whispered as he stroked me, "forever Stephanie."

And I came again and again and again…

By the time he let me up I really did look like a gorgon. I could have given Medusa a run for her money.

We walked into the morning meeting in the executive dining room and Mitch just shook his head and concentrated on his plate. Tank glanced at us and then him and started laughing. Mitch didn't think it was a laughing matter. I didn't really think so either, but boys will be boys. Ranger just shook his head and took his seat.

The new girl Ella had hired served us and left. Her name was Susanna and she was one of those tall willowy blondes. She was pretty, but none of the guys were biting.

"I've heard from Robert," he said softly.

"And," Fenton asked.

"And we'll make it slow," he said grimly.

"Shit," Brian sighed.

"I want it," Tank growled.

"You're not healed enough," Bobby said seriously.

"I want it," he glared at Bobby.

Bobby glanced over at me, "we'll talk about it later."

"You can talk about it now," I shrugged. "I'd kill him myself if it was my daughter."

"You can make the fatal blow," Bobby nodded. "But after he's down. You need to be careful or Lula will kill you and me both assuming you survive."

Tank nodded.

"What's the plan," Lester said softly.

"We need to lure him in. We need something," Ranger said and frowned. "I just don't know what."

"I have a thought," I said softly and straightened in my chair.

"Go on," he nodded.

"We'll need cooperation from his family."

"We can get it," he said grimly.

"We're going to tell him we've got Jamie and the money."

"We," Brian asked.

"Mitch," I said softly. "Mitch is who he's after. Mitch is who he's afraid of. Mitch is who can threaten him. We'll have to pull the family out and make it look real. Relocate them and scare the shit out of him. He knows what Mitch is capable of doing. He's read his personnel files from the Army. He'll be afraid. He'll come for him."

"Where," Mitch asked.

"My brother's lake house," Ranger said quietly.

"That's prime suck zone," Mitch frowned. "We may need to bring Diesel in for this one. Some pretty ugly creatures are out there."

Fenton nodded, "probably a good idea."

Mitch blinked at Fenton in surprise.

"I told him," I shrugged.

"It's a good idea," Ranger nodded. "Will you call him Mitch?"

"Yea," he agreed.

"I'll get Robert on the extraction. We'll make it messy. Then we'll get a paid cell phone and make the call. I need to call Rafe."

"Good idea," I sighed.

"He won't care Babe," he smiled.

"He will when it's destroyed."

He laughed.

"In the meantime," Lester cleared his throat, "that doesn't resolve the hit that's currently ongoing. Even if you get George and his confession and his untimely and messy demise, that doesn't keep the goons he's hired from continuing to come after Mitch until they've finished the job. How do we stop that?"

"I've got people on it…sort of," I said softly.

"Who," he frowned.

"Let's just say that the 'families' of Trenton aren't happy with outside contractors coming into their turf."

"Ouch," he winced.

"My source says that the eminent threat is dealt with, but George may hire more contractors."

"It pays to know people I guess," Brian shook his head.

"It's a mixed blessing at best," I sighed.

"I'm going to make that call to Robert," Ranger got to his feet. He leaned over and kissed me on the head and left us in the dining room.

"Have any of you been to the lake house," I asked.

"Yea," Tank nodded. "It's actually a good choice. It will be easy for us to defend it. We've got the gear now to make him believe it's not a set up. If he uses heat sources, we can make it so he only has the one's he expects. We can totally control this."

"Are you guys sure," I sighed. "I don't want any of you dead."

"We won't be," he smiled.

I got to my feet, "I think I'm going to go and…I'm gonna go." I hurried out of the office and down the hall to the elevator. I got on and went down and got on my pink golf cart in the tunnel and headed for home. I didn't like these missions. I didn't like them at all.

My phone buzzed and I flipped it open. "Yo."

"Where are you going?"

"I'm getting anxious."

"Why are you getting anxious," he said quietly and I could hear something in his voice.

"I don't know."

"Then come back here. If you're getting anxious, that's not usually a good thing. It usually means the shit is about to hit the fan. I'd like you to come back."

"Just…give me a few minutes and I will."

"Okay," he sighed.

When I got home I went straight upstairs and washed my face and studied my pale reflection in the mirror. He was right, of course. If I felt anxious like this, it was usually followed by some kind of throw down. I hated that.

The house phone connected to the gate rang and I went to answer it. Robert was there smiling at me from the video screen.

"Hello Robert."

"Hi Stephanie," he said with a smile. "Listen, can I come up and talk to you for a few minutes."

"I'm headed to the office, can't you meet me there," I frowned.

He grimaced and swallowed, "no, I need to see you now."

"Okay," I buzzed him in and hit one on speed dial.

"Steph," he frowned.

"It's going down now. Robert is coming up the driveway," I said seriously. "I can tell he's being forced. I think George wants your wife in payment for his money."

"Get out," he groaned.

"Get me out," I said. "If I leave, Robert is dead."

"Robert is probably dead anyway," he hissed.

"Get us out Ric. I love you." I hung up the phone and turned the ringer off. I turned all the ringers off. I loaded myself and as many rooms of the house as I could with weapons strategically placed before the doorbell rang. Then I took a deep breath and went to the door and swung it open with a smile. "Hi Robert," I said, "come on in. I'll make some coffee."

"Sounds good," he swallowed and followed me inside.

I could hear his footsteps as he followed me and I could hear the muffled sound of a second set. "What kind would you like," I said cheerfully. "I have French Vanilla, Biscotti, Caramel Drizzle, Hazelnut, Cinnamon, Chocolate Truffle, or regular."

"Wow, that's quite a selection."

"Ranger and I have become addicted to flavored coffees thanks to our therapist," I smiled.

"Let's go with Chocolate Truffle," he said with a slight smile.

"An excellent choice," I said and began to make the coffee. The kitchen has one window and it looks out over the side yard and down to the yacht and the river. There is a whole bay of windows in the breakfast room, but I didn't want to lead him that way. I didn't want there to be windows anywhere he could see, so I took him back to the family room. There were windows, but there were no stairs. The stairs were in a room to the side and there were just a few windows overlooking the front yard. For instance you couldn't see men in black with mass weapons coming up from below. "The coffee will be ready in a few moments. What did you need to talk to me about?"

"He didn't, I did," George emerged from the shadows with a gun in each hand. One was pointed at me and the other at Robert.

"Oh," I swallowed. I don't really like it when people point guns at me. It makes me nervous. It makes me especially nervous when I know that he'll kill me and my daughter. It also makes me angry. I sank to the comfortable leather chair facing the windows. He would have to face me and that meant he didn't have a view of anyone entering the house by the door or from either stairwell.

"What did you want to talk to me about?"

"Why are people talking to my daughter," he asked.

"Your daughter," I frowned.

He shot Robert in the leg, "don't fuck with me."

Robert hit the ground clutching his leg, but he didn't make a sound.

Mentally I was thinking that I was really glad we'd taken the Berber carpet out and replaced it with the bamboo. It would much easier to get the blood out. It was easier to think of that than the worst case scenario. I hoped it was in the knee Robert already had the rod in. I swallowed, "they think you're molesting her."

He turned white as a sheet. "Why do they think I'm…I'm…"

"Doing unnatural sexual things with your own child," I said with wide innocent eyes. "I don't know. Perhaps because she told someone," I suggested.

"She would never," he shook his head adamantly.

"And yet we know," I sighed.

He paced back and forth for a few minutes. "Where's my money?"

"In various accounts all over the globe," I said softly. "I don't know which accounts. I didn't arrange the transfers."

"And where is my daughter," he barked.

"Your _**family**_ is somewhere safe," I said softly. "They will be protected and well cared for. You needn't worry about them."

"But I do," he said low and approached me pointing his gun in the direction of my womb. "He remembered? I knew the minute I saw him in the hall that it was the same guy from Kabul. He looks the same."

"You don't," I said softly. "He would have never made the connection."

He blinked at me in shock, "don't lie."

"I'm not lying. You've already shown me what you're willing to do if I evade or lie. Why would I lie? He never made the connection. He never would have."

"How then," he frowned.

"It wasn't until you came after him that he recognized your voice on a recording. That's when he put it together. It still took him a while to remember the rest of it."

He leaned over the chair and met my eyes, "and what is the rest of it?"

"Treason," I said softly not letting my gaze break from his. "The death penalty I'm certain."

He laughed, "You think they're going to try me for treason."

"Yea, I think so," I nodded. "Jalalbad near the Pakistan border, Shir Khan on the Tajikistan border, and Mazar-e Sharif on the Uzbekistan border," I repeated softly. "That's when you sold us out to the Afghanis. The death toll was over seventy-two hundred people as I recall, eight hundred were US soldiers. We've also connected money to Al-Quida and a few rather nasty men who apparently would sell out their mothers for money and or power. Yea, treason is the goal."

"Where's my money," he repeated.

"You don't have any," I said succinctly.

He raised the gun arm back and swung and started to hit me I ducked and pulled the gun out and stuck it against his chest.

"Drop it," I said softly and lowered the gun to his stomach.

"You can't kill me there," he said with a laugh.

"I don't want to," I said softly. "Someone else wants that honor."

"Bitch," he spat and swung the gun toward me and I fired.

He was surprised. I don't know why. I mean I've killed before. Everyone knows that. To protect my family…my friends, the people I love wouldn't he have thought I'd kill him? Wouldn't he have thought I was prepared?"

I kicked the guns out of his reach when he dropped and kept my gun on him. "Are you okay Robert?"

"I will be," he smiled. "You're a bad ass. You look sweet like marshmallow cream, but you're good. Ranger did a good job with you."

"Thanks," I smiled.

George reached for a gun and I shot him in the knee. He howled with pain.

I picked up the house phone, "are you guys coming in or not?"

"We're in," Woody laughed. "We're watching the master."

"What," I frowned.

"Damn girl, remind me not to piss you off," he laughed. "I'm stuck on monitors while everyone else storms casa Manoso. I'm watching you and keeping them updated. You're dangerous."

"A smart thing for anyone to remember," I said quietly. "Is Tank coming to get his toy?"

"Yea," he said. "Your husband is having a hissy fit."

"Why?"

"The bio system locked him out of the house. His hand is shaking too bad to register on the bio meter. Mitch is the only one who can get in. He's letting them in now."

"Do they know our condition?"

"Yep, Bobby's there for Robert."

"Thank you," I nodded.

George started to move again.

I sighed, "Don't piss me off George," I said seriously. "You killed some of my husband's employees and made him feel like he failed them. You tried to kill my friends and you very nearly succeeded. You threatened my husband and child. You're not one of my favorite people right now. If we hadn't promised Tank…I'd kill you myself. If I have to shoot you again, it will be in the other knee or the elbow. What do you think Robert?"

"Elbow," he hissed in pain.

"You heard him," I said softly, "it will be your elbow." I could hear Woody chuckling on the other end. Then I heard footsteps. "I hear a stampede of men in black. I'll let you go now Woody."

"Good job Steph," he said happily.

"A mother has to do what a mother has to do," I said sincerely and put down the phone.

Ranger rushed into the room and swept me up into his arms and held on tight breathing me in. "You're all right? Are you all right? Did that son-of-a-bitch hurt you?"

"He never had a chance," Robert grinned. "You did a good job of training her Ranger. We could use her in black ops."

"Over my dead body," Ranger hissed and his mouth crashed down on mine. "Oh God Steph…maybe we should move out of the suck zone," he said softly when his mouth lifted a fraction from mine.

"Nah," I shook my head and smiled, "this is more fun."

He laughed, "I love you."

I blinked at him.

"I love you," he laughed and spun me around. "I love you. I love you. I love you."

I laughed with him, "I love you too."

Tank and Mitch shook their heads.

"I've got him," Mitch threw George up over his shoulder and the three men headed down the tunnel.

"Don't get blood on my pink walls," I called as they left.

"Yes ma'am," Mitch said with a snort.

Tank just shook his head and followed, "them walls ain't right Ranger. They ain't right."

Ranger just grinned at me.

"Freudian," I said with a smile.

"I want to Freudian you right now," he grinned back.

"Get rid of these people and you can."

"I'll make it quick."

"Er…Ric before you do that," I raised a brow at him.

"Yes," he said with a slight frown.

"How many rooms in this house have cameras in them," I raised a brow.

He swallowed, "all of them."

"I'm going to kick your ass," I glared and pulled out of his arms to march away in fury.

"No…Stephanie wait," he caught me at the stairs, "it's not like that. The cameras are all dead unless we hit the panic alert. Okay?"

"Do you swear," I glared at him.

"Well," he bit his lip sheepishly, "I can override it from my desk for just my computer. But I haven't done it yet…I swear!"

"Why would you want to," I frowned.

"Er…so I can look at you," he reddened.

I blinked at him. We were about eye level with me on the bottom step. He wanted to watch me. He was a voyeur. "You mean you want to see me naked any time you like?"

"It could be a fun thing for both of us," he said seriously.

I shook my head.

"What if I promise you that I won't turn it on unless you tell me it's okay," he said seriously.

I met his eyes. He was pleading with me to trust him. I softened, "only if I say its okay."

"Yea," he assured me.

"All right," I said softly. "But be careful what you wish for."

He swallowed.

"Why are the people still here," I raised a brow and continued up the stairs.

"I'm on it," he said watching me go.

"They're still here," I sang to him from the top of the stairs.

He groaned and hurried away adjusting himself.

I grinned. Yea, this could be fun.


	30. Chapter 30

We spent the rest of the day in bed. Ranger left the disposal of George by whatever means or end to Tank. He said they were partners in this business. He'd always made the decisions. It was Tanks turn. It was his call. I never asked what the end result had been, but based on Tank's reaction to a picture of George's daughter we were shown I'd say he met a deserving end and it probably hurt pretty damn bad.

The Melendez family was relocated and given new identities. They had no other family to deal with and when George's wife was told of his misdeeds she was devastated. Especially when she had to hear her twelve year old daughter tell her what her father had done to her and had been doing to her for years. Both Melissa and Jamie would get counseling along with the other two children, but they'd get it in Miami where they'd been relocated into a gated community in a safe neighborhood with no financial cares. They would be in the safe and comfortable care of Rangeman for the rest of their lives or until they no longer wanted it.

Rangeman would fund it. That is Rangeman and a fund from Uncle Sam for just such an occurrence.

Ranger and I were lying in bed a few days later watching television. It was some talk show like Jerry Springer where everyone's misdeeds were on display for the viewing public's entertainment. I find that I'm not a big fan of that particular kind of television. It's probably because I feel like my life has been under a microscope for everyone's viewing pleasure for so long.

"I hate this show," I sighed.

He raised the remote and flicked the television off. "We don't have to watch it." Yea, even Ranger in all his glory still has to have control of the remote. Just like a friggin man. And yes, even naked Ranger controlling the remote is a little bit annoying. I mean, I'd like to have control sometimes. Now that he's relaxed and we're all lovey dovey and committed to one another for life, he's really relaxed. Not only has he taken over the remote, he's asserting himself in other areas as well. We'll have to see how this plays out.

I rolled toward him and curled against him. My fingers automatically traced the new scars on his abdomen. I liked knowing every inch of his body. I didn't mind when he explored mine either. He'd even taken the time to reassure me on several occasions while examining my ass that Joyce's little memento had all but disappeared. It was now a tiny little pucker on my ass. Then he started kissing my ass and I forget what he said after that. You would too.

"What's going on in your head," he said softly as his arms wrapped around me and he pulled me tight against him.

"How many children do you want?"

"Well…," he began with a smile, "I think I'd like at least a couple more. I mean this one and at least one more." His fingers slid over my belly. "When will you start showing?"

"Not for months," I said serenely. "It depends."

"I can't wait for you to get a big belly," he grinned.

I raised a brow at him, "can't you? Do you have a closet thing for plus size women? Is Lula really your secret desire?"

"Brat," he slapped my bare ass playfully.

I grinned up at him cheekily, "I want to wear some of the maternity clothes in the closet too Ric, but Val assures me that being pregnant in the summer is horrible especially when you're big during that time. I'm just going to be thankful for small favors."

"I want to feel the bean move."

"Me too," I sighed. "I'm relieved you don't have the hots for Lula too. How would we ever explain it to Tank? I don't think he'd like it either."

He growled and rolled me to my back and kissed me, "I do not have the hots for Lula. I don't have the hots for plus size women. I only have the hots for you. I only want you. I will only ever want you."

I smiled up at him and ran my fingers over his stubbly cheek, "ditto."

He roared with laughter and rolled us over so I was on top of him. "I've gotten just what I deserve with you Stephanie Manoso."

"I'm glad you realize it," I cuddled down on him. "I love you Ric."

"I love you Stephanie," he sighed. "We have therapy this afternoon."

"I know. Do we really need it?"

He chuckled, "don't you think Dr. Addison will be happy to see us and know that we're a success story?"

"I would think," I agreed. "There are probably varying degrees of how successful he really was though. A lot of people seem to think we're a disaster…well, at least that I'm a disaster."

"Ha," he shook his head. "You couldn't be more wrong."

I raised my head, "I need to stay in therapy?"

"Or I could give you therapy from right here," he growled slightly.

I felt him rising under me, "I could stand some more of your therapy."

"I love you."

"I love you," I whispered.

We walked into Dr. Addison's office hand in hand. We sat together on the couch and accepted French Vanilla Coffee from Dr. Addison. Ranger's was black, mine had cream and sugar. The doctor was good.

"You two look good," he smiled. "Julia tells me you arrived without an entourage. Am I to assume that your latest bout with the bad guys is resolved and all is well?"

"You may," Ranger smiled.

"Good," he nodded. "Have you had a chance to work on your homework?"

"We have," Ranger agreed.

"Not as much as we would have liked," I admitted. "We had a situation to resolve first, but we've been working on it ever since."

"And how is it going?"

"Very well," I beamed up at my husband.

Dr. Addison sat back with a smile and gazed at us, "how well?"

"I call him Ric," I smiled, "in intimate situations. I don't mean just sexual situations, but any time we're alone. I'm testing it in other settings, but so far it's just when we're having our own time."

"That's okay," he nodded. "You've done very well." He tilted his head, "you said in sexual situations, does that mean that you've lifted your ban on intercourse?"

I laughed, "oh yea. It's lifted and tossed aside and trampled and I hope we never have to resurrect it for any reason."

He laughed, "How do you feel about that Ricardo?"

"Good," he chuckled. "I feel good."

"So he said he loved you?"

"Well…yea," I laughed.

"But she lifted the ban before I said it," Ranger smiled over at me. The look on his face was loving and tender, "she realized that I said it in every way but using the words."

"Very good Stephanie," Dr. Addison beamed at me.

I blushed, "it felt good just to accept it."

"I know it did," he nodded. "And how did you overcome your fear Ricardo?"

"It started small with admitting to her why I couldn't," he said quietly. "Then I just started saying ditto when she'd say it to me."

Dr. Addison laughed, "That's good."

"I thought so," Ranger smiled.

"Me too," I squeezed his hand in mine.

"Then we had the situation and I thought…for a few moments, I could have lost her and it…the words just came rushing out," he said. "It was such a relief too. I mean it felt so good to say it to her."

"I'm sure it did," Dr. Addison nodded. He sat back in his chair and contemplated us thoughtfully. "You know you don't need couple's counseling anymore, right?"

"We were pretty sure," I nodded. "But it's always nice to have it confirmed by a professional."

He chuckled, "well, I'm glad to ease your minds. Stephanie I think in light of everything we should go back to the once a month maintenance for you. I know you said it makes you feel like a car, but we'll try it for a while and you may decide you don't need me any more at all. That would be okay too. Ricardo, I'd like to keep seeing you for a while. We've been digging into some things I think… Well I _feel_ that it will just take some of the burden off of you to say it out loud. Then you can let it go. What do you think?"

Ranger sighed in relief, "I'd like to continue. I told Stephanie once that I didn't need therapy because I knew how I felt."

"What did she say," Dr. Addison said in amusement.

"She said she knew how she felt too, therapy helped her to know how to deal with those feelings."

"Very good Stephanie," Dr. Addison said proudly.

I blushed.

"She's very wise," Ranger said softly.

"She is," Dr. Addison agreed.

"So I'll see you at your regular appointment next Wednesday and Stephanie if you'll stop by and see Julia on the way out to make an appointment for a month from now, I'd be happy."

"That's it then," I blinked at him.

He smiled kindly, "Stephanie…you're actually a very healthy, happy and well adjusted woman. You've come a long way from the hysterical woman you were just a few months ago. I know the baby has changed you. I know your commitment to your husband has changed you. But I think it's more than that. I think you grew up."

"Oh hell," I sighed.

He laughed, "It's not a bad thing. You're a wife. You're about to be a mother."

I sighed and nodded again.

"Don't worry Babe. You can always be a little childish with me."

"Thank you Ric," I said and melted into his soft gaze.

"Okay…you two need to get out of here and get a room," Dr. Addison laughed.

Ranger laughed, "That is an excellent idea. But first I'm going to take her to get some food and raise her energy meter."

"Always advisable," Dr. Addison got to his feet with us. "Take care. I'm always here if you need me Stephanie. But I doubt you will."

I smiled and hugged him before I could talk myself out of it. "Thank you Dr. Addison. You've helped me change my life."

"That's why I'm here," he said kindly.

Ranger took me to lunch at Pinos. When we walked in we were happy to see our favorite table in the corner empty. We sauntered back to take the table stopping along the way to greet friends both old and new. Ranger clapped Joe on the back when we paused at his and Terri's table. Isabella was giggling and I laughed feeling that twinge that a woman feels when her own child is coming or desired. They looked happy. Our exchange with them was pleasant and comfortable. My hand was in my husband's. I was happy.

"Come on Stephanie," he tugged me toward the table.

I gave Terri a little finger wave.

"Your parents just arrived," Ranger said as we started to sit. He waved them to come and join us and they headed over. We exchanged hugs and murmured 'happy to see you'.

I scooted into the booth and Ranger waited till my parents were seated before sliding in beside me.

"How are you doing dear," Mom asked reaching across the table to cover my hand with hers.

"Good," I smiled. I turned to beam up at Ranger, "Dr. Addison released us from couple's counseling."

"Oh honey," she beamed and her eyes filled with tears, "I'm so happy to hear that."

"Me too," my father said gruffly and patted Ranger's hand on the table.

"We are too," Ranger said softly. "I'm going to continue for a while, but Stephanie is really done."

"Oh honey," Mom sniffed and reached into her purse for her lacey handkerchief.

I laughed, "I feel the same way Mom."

"I had no doubt you'd make it," Daddy said with a smile. "I knew he loved you."

"I thought he did," I said softly, "but it's nice to be sure."

"How sure are you," he asked.

"I love her," Ranger smiled.

Daddy grinned and sat back in his seat, "you are very sure."

"Very sure," I agreed and smiled up at my husband.

Ranger leaned over and dropped a soft kiss on my mouth. "I love you."

"I love you," I whispered back.

"What's next then," Daddy asked opening the menu.

I shook my head with a smile. I never opened the menu at Pinos. I knew the menu by heart. If he made changes, he made sure that I knew about it. To me it's like going to the drive-thru at McDonalds and having to wait because the lone guy in the car in front of you can't make up his mind. Come on Dude, the menu hasn't changed that much. Order your damn Big Mac Value meal and get out of my way.

"We're going to take a vacation," Ranger said with a smile. "Maybe even that honeymoon we've never had."

"To Disney World," I beamed up at him hopefully.

"You're so romantic," he rolled his eyes and shook his head with a smile.

I sighed. I was never getting to friggin Disney World. When the bean was old enough, I was going to start plotting. She would easily be as obsessed as I am. I could get her to work her Daddy for me.

"But first we are slated to attend the grand opening of the new Unit. You're going right," he raised a brow at my father.

"Are you kidding," he shook his head with a chuckle, "the boys would kill me if I didn't show. And if I don't bring your mother-in-law they may just kill me anyway."

"It's the lemon cake," Ranger said seriously. "It's addicting."

Mom just smiled serenely. "You've done a good job with the menu dear," she smiled at me happily. "That sweet boy Mike sent me a copy of it and noted all of your handiwork on it. He's very proud of you and so am I."

"Me too," Ranger smiled.

"It was fun," I admitted. "Ella has even asked me to help her out with her menus for the new place. We're hiring more people even for food service."

"In this economy you're really doing very well," Daddy nodded. "It's good to see."

Ranger shrugged. "We provide a good service for a reasonable price. In this day and age when crime is rising significantly our services have become pretty premium."

"I know," my father nodded. "It makes me feel better to know that Ellen is safe at home when I'm not there thanks to the alarm system your boys installed."

"It makes me feel better too," Ranger nodded.

"You're so sweet Ricardo," Mom smiled. "Stephanie dear, how are you feeling? Have you had much nausea or anything?"

"Not too much," I smiled. "I had a few rough days. These days if I get nauseous it's only first thing in the morning and it's gone within the hour. I'm a little more tired than normal, but I feel pretty good."

"Oh that's good. When I was pregnant with Val I was just miserable. I mean it. I was sick all the time and had heartburn. Oh my goodness I thought I was going to die. When I was pregnant with you though, it was a piece of cake."

"That's what this has been so far," I smiled. "She's a good little bean."

"Just like her Mommy," my mother said proudly.

I had the sudden feeling that she'd been waiting a lot of years to say that. Oh and I even did it in the right order. I got married and then I got pregnant. Who knew I could be so responsible? I didn't.

We chatted easily over our pizza, beer, and salads. Okay, only Ranger had a salad but there's only so much temple destruction he can do and I'm only going to admit this once and if you tell anyone I'll deny it but…I'll do whatever is necessary (including withholding Lemon Cake from him) to make sure he maintains the temple just as it is. I'd like to continue to worship at it just as it is for years to come. I'm delusional. We're going to get older. But hey, my land of denial isn't completely gone…it's just redirected.

We walked to the door and Ranger paid for lunch amidst my parents protests. We made a deal to get together at our house for dinner soon and then kissed and hugged and parted ways. It was much as I imagined the rest of our lives to be…only we'd be messier because children aren't the neatest eaters in the world. I know this for fact, I was one.

We started home and stopped at the light down the street from the Tasty Pasty bakery and Ric looked over at me and grinned.

"What," I blinked at him. He looked wolfish and a little bit devious.

"Let's make a bakery run," he grinned.

"For what," I blinked at him. He barely ate desserts and quite frankly I didn't want any sugar to destroy my mojo.

"Props," he grinned and pulled into the parking lot.

"Props," I blinked.

"We'll get the rubber sheets later."

"Oh boy," I gasped. It was going to be an interesting night at Casa Manoso. It was going to be a very, very interesting night.


	31. Chapter 31

On Saturday night was the grand opening of Unit. If the first couple of months went well enough, Mike was planning on opening another restaurant or two. I thought it was a great idea. He was worried about the financing though. It's a big venture and he didn't want to sell out to some big corporation in order to expand on his dreams. I was willing to sink some money into the idea, but I'm not sure my paltry ten million (yea, can you believe it turned out to be over ten million dollars?), if I sold everything, was enough.

In the last ten days I'd spent a lot of time in my office. There was a lot of work involved in the growth of Rangeman, Inc. Yea…cool huh…we're incorporated. We'd had a couple more promotions. Ella was promoted to VP of Internal Operations. The translation to that, she takes care of us. It meant a hefty raise and she has a lot more staff. It's good for her. Gabe was promoted too. Padma was delirious about it too. Gabe was promoted to Monitor Director. It meant he trained or oversaw the training of all staff and support of monitors. He was the one lunatic Rangeman employee who truly enjoyed monitor duty. I was concerned about him. Even the elusive Rodriquez got a promotion to head of case development. Someday I'd meet ole Rodriquez and find out just who he is.

Everyone settled into the new offices very nicely. Max was currently working to complete the docks and renovate the old offices on Haywood. They would keep their original purpose. We would continue to meet level one clients there. Those clients were primarily home and small business security clients. Lester had interviewed everyone on staff and decided it was time to think outside the box. Let's be real here, Rangeman employees (male and female alike) are a sexy bunch. But they're usually a little bit intimidating. People getting security for their homes or small businesses like to know there are people like that around, but they prefer to deal with people a little less intimidating. He hired a woman. Nobody was more surprised than I was. Well, maybe Ranger was. She wasn't even a twenty year old hard body. Okay, maybe that's the part that surprised Ranger. Grace is in her mid thirties and very nice looking. She wasn't tall, she was average. She didn't have bodacious curves, she was average. She wasn't incredibly beautiful, she was average. She also had the most killer smile you've ever seen in your life. When she grinned, big slashing dimples took up half of each side of her face. Okay, I'm exaggerating, but when she smiles…she is beautiful.

As a matter of fact, the first time she smiled at Max when they were chatting about the redesign, he stopped talking. I was under the impression that nothing could stop him from talking…I was wrong. I have a feeling her office will be very nicely done.

We hired a couple of new receptionists and a few fresh out of the Marines or Army or whatever service to take gate duty. They were young and fresh faced and almost never smiled, except when Julia (the new server in the Executive dining room) or Heather (the new dimpled receptionist for the new facility) came on campus (yea, they call the Rangeman facility a campus…who knew?). Then they got a little flustered. I'll be honest with you here, Hal hired Heather but he was beginning to regret it. She was a lovely face to greet when you came to our facilities, but she was a bit distracting to the boys.

The uniform around the offices was being revamped as well. Natalie came by and the two of us sat around the office and worked for days to come up with something that was both what Ranger wanted and what our clients needed. We agreed that everyone working in the field needed to stay with the same Rangeman uniform of black cargoes and boots. You never knew what you were getting yourself into. But we convinced Ranger that the summers in Trenton were murder if you had to be dressed completely in black. He allowed us to add white tee shirts of the same basic design to the wardrobe offering. The logos would be discretely sewn on just as before, but now with white thread. It would be a photographic opposite. The first time Ranger tried the shirt on for me I gasped and then had my wicked way with him. He's yummy anyway, but that white shirt against his skin…yowsa!

For those personnel who were now primarily office personnel we offered other options like button down shirts, sports coats, khakis and a variety of other nice looking clothing. All the clothing was designed to make Rangeman employees feel comfortable and look successful. If Tank and Ranger's expressions were anything to go on, we'd hit pay dirt.

After all the time catching everything up in the office and making it feel as comfortable as the old one had felt (and everyone seemed to think it was even more comfortable), I felt we deserved the night off to celebrate with Mike. After the celebration we were going to have a good night's sleep and then head off on our vacation/honeymoon. Ranger wouldn't tell me where we were going, but he did tell me how to pack. I needed shorts, tee shirts, a sundress or two and a lot of bikinis. Hmmm…

While shopping for bikini's I found a new dress for Unit's opening. I'd also bought all new lingerie. I don't know what happened but all the sudden my boobs started growing like wildfire. It's almost as if I hit puberty again. I went from a large B to a large C in a very short period of time. Ranger emailed with Kate and she said that it just happened to some women. She even told us they may hang around after the bean is born and weaned. Weaned…oh yea…I forgot about that. He was pleased, so much for the old adage of more than a mouthful being a waste. He didn't waste any of it.

The dress I bought for the party was blue, of course. It was Ranger's favorite color on me. I like to dress to please him. It makes him randy and a randy Ric is never a bad thing. He was running late checking on a few things at the office, which is typical. I, however, was on time and almost ready when he came running into the bedroom stripping off clothing as he moved. The only time he'd come running into the bedroom stripping as he went so far is the only time I told him he could turn the camera on in the bedroom. He didn't last long back at the office.

He emerged from the closet after showering and shaving about twenty minutes later wearing charcoal slacks and a shirt that almost matched the royal blue of my dress. He sank down on the side of the bed and tugged his socks on watching me as I applied lipstick.

"There's no point in that yet," he said with a low grow sliding his feet into this loafers and getting gracefully to his feet and coming to me. He wrapped his arms around my waist. "You look devastatingly beautiful."

"So do you," I met his eyes in the mirror.

"The lipstick is a goner," he said and sucked lightly at my bare shoulder.

I grinned and wiped it off, "better?"

"You should wait till we're in the car anyway," he said turning me to face him.

"Why is that," I raised a brow.

"Because the lipstick may not be the only thing that comes off," he grinned and his eyes glinted predatory.

I laughed, "I don't want to be late."

"How about a quickie," he suggested with a leer.

"I thought you didn't do quickies," I teased.

"I've learned to respect the value of the quickie," he admitted enthusiastically. "However, I feel it can be grossly over used."

"No chance of that with you?"

"None," he agreed.

"Also no quickie," I laughed. "We need to go. We are supposed to be there in twenty minutes."

He groaned and bent his head and reduced me to a puddle of hormones and tingling nerve endings. "Change your mind," he murmured against my mouth.

"My mind says no-no, but my body says yes-yes," I sighed.

"Who's winning," he growled.

"My mind," I sighed and straightened and reached for my purse and my lipstick. I ran my hand lovingly over the prominent bulge in his pants and headed for the door.

He groaned and followed me.

We arrived at the restaurant on time. It was only seven-thirty and it was packed. A good number of people there were Rangeman employees, but the general public was also in attendance.

Mike hurried to greet us with a grin. "Stephanie…Ranger, I'm so glad you're here. We've been open for an hour and a half and we're a solid hit. The food critic for the Trentonian was here. He ate your burrito dinner and had a couple of the sides as well as lemon cake and bombshell blast. He told me on the way out that he was giving us five stars tomorrow. We're a hit!"

I laughed, "I'm so glad Mike."

"Me too," he grinned. "Come on, let's get you to your table. I've got you in the upper deck with most of the Rangeman people including Falcon and the missus. Carrie's here too. She's sitting with Mitch, but…"

"I know, she's yours," I laughed.

"Damn right," he nodded. "Anyway…your people are upstairs."

"Good," Ranger nodded and followed him to the stairs with my hand tucked in his arm. He released me so I could go up the stairs first and patted me on the ass as I started up.

I glanced back at him and laughed and he leered at me. I walked straight to the table with Tank and Lula, Cal and Natalie, and Mitch and Carrie. Tank and Mitch got to their feet. Cal started and winced. I put my hand on his shoulder and leaned over and hugged him around the neck from behind. "It's so good to see you Cal."

He smiled and turned to kiss my cheek. "I'm glad to be here."

"As glad as we are?"

"Probably," he said. "Thanks sweetie."

"You know I love you."

"I know. I love you too."

I released him so Ranger could do the man thing and went into Tank's open arms, "looking good big guy."

"That's what Lula said," he grinned.

Next I went to Mitch, "You alright," I whispered.

"I'm good," he nodded. "We're good as friends."

"Yea," I raised a brow.

"Yea," he grinned.

"I can hear you," Carrie laughed and got to her feet to hug me tight. "You're pregnant?"

"I know…do you believe it," I laughed.

"Er…," she looked over at Ranger, "yea!"

We giggled together before I sank down on the other side of Mitch. "Have we ordered anything yet?"

"A pitcher of Mojitos is on the way," Mike grinned.

"Yippee," I grinned and my face fell when I realized the bean was still too young to drink. "Er…"

"And a Shirley Temple for the pregnant chick," he laughed and sauntered off.

I sighed and shook my head as Ranger sat down beside me.

"It's only seven and a half more months Babe," he said kissing my cheek.

"Not if I breast feed," I said morosely.

He laughed, "Mike will have Mojitos when you are done."

"You'll probably have me knocked up again by then," I sighed.

"Probably," he nuzzled my neck with a smile.

All things considered, it was a good compromise. I may be knocked up, but I'd get a beautiful baby out of it. And of course, there's always the work, work, work that goes into getting pregnant…and keeping in practice in case you want to get pregnant again. It's a dirty job, but somebody has to have sex with Ranger. I guess it's me.

"What are you smiling about," he whispered.

"What I'm going to do to you when we get home tonight," I said softly.

He groaned and reached down to adjust himself. "At least wait that long."

I laughed.

The grand opening was a spectacular success. It was standing room only in the bar. I even went down and flirted with a few of the guys who'd been in there the first time. Ranger even let me go by myself…not true. He let me go with Lula. The boys knew who my husband was now so I was pretty much off limits. But they played with me anyway and groused over how all the good women were all taken. They even flirted with Lula. They immediately realized who she was and swore they'd listen to her show from now on.

Mike took me into the kitchen after they closed it and the chefs toasted me with champagne and gave me a chef's hat and an apron with my name on it. They said I was one of them. I cried. I cry at the drop of a hat these days…damn maternity hormones.

Before I knew it, it was two o'clock and Mike was closing the bar. Ranger took one look at me leaning against Mitch yawning and decided it was time to go. Cal and Natalie had left about eleven. Cal was starting to look a little pale and Carrie advised Natalie to take him on home. Bobby came over to take a look at him, agreed with Carrie and offered her a job on the spot. She agreed. It was better pay than the EMT service and the benefits were better.

"Come on, we're supposed to be on a plane tomorrow morning at seven ten," Ranger said pulling me to my feet.

I yawned again, "Okay. Bye everyone. Take care of yourselves while we're gone and stay out of trouble."

Every single one of them started laughing.

"We'll be fine," Mitch shook his head. "You'll be in another state."

"What state will I be in," I said casually.

"I suspect it will be bliss," he raised a brow.

I laughed.

"Good try Stephanie," Ranger said putting both hands on my ass to propel me toward the stairs. "Good night, everyone and we'll see you in a couple of weeks."

"Where are you going," Lula called from her chair.

"On our honeymoon," he said wrapping his arms around my neck from behind.

"Where are you going on your honeymoon," she said with a laugh.

"Where do you think," he rolled his eyes, "Disney World of course."

I skid to a halt and screeched and turned and threw my arms up around his neck. "I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you." I punctuated each word with a kiss on his laughing face.

He scooped me up and started down the stairs with me in his arms.

"Bye everyone," I called gleefully over his shoulder. "We're going to Disney World."

"Don't bring the place down," Hal called.

"Yea, don't let anyone murder the mouse while you're there," Mitch laughed.

"Oh you guys," I shook my head with a laugh.

Ranger settled me into the car and got in and pulled out heading home.

"We're really going to Disney World?"

"Is that where you wanted to spend your honeymoon? Isn't that where you've wanted to go since you were a kid?"

"Yes," I nodded.

"I'm about making all of your dreams come true Babe."

I sighed, "You already do Ric. You already do."

Fin


End file.
